It’s officially time for the next challenge on the St. John’s basketball schedule – the Players Era Festival.
The three-game stretch in Las Vegas will tell if the No. 14 Johnnies (3-1) learned from its loss against then No. 15 Alabama nearly two weeks ago and what it needs to fix against top competition.
It’s recent ‘buy’ games certainly showed like the Red Storm are ready.
First up will be No. 16 Iowa State (4-0) on Monday afternoon (4:30 p.m. ET, truTV), who is also unproven in the early season.
The Cyclones defeated Mississippi State on a neutral floor last week in South Dakota but since then the Bulldogs have lost to Kansas State by 21 points and New Mexico, casting a shadow on how impressive the Iowa State victory was.
Still, St. John’s knows the recent history proves that it will be a major challenge.
“Iowa State and Houston are as difficult to play against as any teams in basketball,” Rick Pitino said last week after the Red Storm throttled Bucknell. “Their defense and rebounding are relentless. It’s great for us to go against that competition.”
Senior guard Tamin Lipsey leads the charge for Iowa State, averaging 19.0 points per game this season after posting only 10.6 as a junior.
“I think it’s a huge opportunity for us as a group, as an individual, I think for us to go out there and play against a team like Iowa State and Baylor, it’s a true test to see where we are earlier on in the season,” Ian Jackson said on Thursday night.
“I think we’re going to be ready for what’s to come. I think we’re going to be totally locked in on the goal and the goal is to win.”
Baylor (3-0) will be looming for the Red Storm on Tuesday afternoon (4:30 p.m. ET, truTV) after playing Creighton on Monday.
The Bears have only played three games entering the Players Era Festival with one of its victories coming at home over Washington, who has not impressed early on.