Men's College Basketball
Preview
Marquette at St. John's
When: 6:30 PM ET, Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York

No. 12 St. John's will aim to extend three pronounced streaks and give itself a more comfortable cushion atop the Big East when it hosts No. 11 Marquette on Tuesday evening in New York.

The Red Storm (19-3, 10-1 Big East) have won eight games in a row overall, seven straight at Madison Square Garden, and all 14 games at home this season.

St. John's moved into sole possession of first place in the conference on Saturday with a 68-66 victory over Providence coupled with Marquette's 77-69 setback to then-No. 25 UConn.

The Golden Eagles (18-4, 9-2), who are tied with Creighton (16-6, 9-2) for second place, will visit the Bluejays on Saturday.

St. John's Kadary Richmond capped a season-high 24-point performance by sinking the game-winning jumper with three seconds left against the Friars.

"It felt very good. The coaches, my teammates, they believed in me to give me the ball at the end of the game," Richmond said, per the New York Post. "We executed the play, and I made a big-time shot."

Richmond has been making several big-time shots of late, going 10-for-14 from the floor against Providence to improve to 30-for-45 over the last four games.

"I think he's playing really good basketball. We were going to win it or lose it with Kadary's shot or his pass," Red Storm coach Rick Pitino said. "He made a terrific shot. He was shooting the ball well all game. I'm really, really happy for him."

RJ Luis collected 19 points and eight rebounds as St. John's won its eighth straight Big East game, its longest winning streak in league play since it posted eight straight victories from Feb. 1 from March 2, 1992.

Luis (17.5), Zuby Ejiofor (14.4) and Richmond (11.9) are averaging double-digit point totals per game for the Red Storm. Ejiofor averages a team-best 8.1 rebounds, and Richmond is tops on the club in assists (4.8) and steals (2.0).

While St. John's has been taking considerable steps forward, Marquette took one step back on Saturday.

Kam Jones scored 22 points and Chase Ross added 19 on a combined 16-for-33 shooting from the floor. Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, the rest of the team made just 9 of 30 shots vs. the Huskies.

In addition, Marquette stumbled out of the blocks and trailed by 22 points in the first half.

"Defensively, it was a roller coaster for us," Ross said, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "We had great stretches, and we had other stretches where we could have done better. So I feel like if we just negate negative stretches, we'll be fine."

Marquette coach Shaka Smart said he doesn't think it's that simple.

"We have to have an understanding that beating Marquette is a quality win, and there's a level of desperation that the other teams have when they play us," Smart said. "Whether that's UConn, Butler, Villanova, it doesn't matter.

"We talk about that a lot. Acceptance only works 100 percent. So if you 75 percent accept that, it ain't going to work."

Jones boasts team-best averages in points (19) and assists (6.2). David Joplin contributes 14.5 points to go with a team-high 5.2 rebounds per game.

--Field Level Media

Stats and Records
Team Comparison
  W/L Strk Home Away Neutral Day Night Conf
Marquette 18-4 L1 11-2 6-2 1-0 4-1 14-3 9-2
St. John's 19-3 W8 14-0 4-1 1-2 5-2 14-1 10-1
Last Meeting
Marquette St. John's
Date Away Home Pts Reb FG% Pts Reb FG%
2/10/24 SJU 75 MARQ 86 86 27 55.9 75 35 42.3
Player Stats
Previous Matchup
Points Player Total FG% FTM
Marquette T. Kolek 27 64.7 0
St. John's D. Jenkins 22 47.4 0
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
Marquette O. Ighodaro 9 2 7
St. John's Z. Ejiofor 7 6 1
Assists Player  
Marquette T. Kolek 13
St. John's D. Jenkins 6
Season
Points Player Total FG% FTM
Marquette K. Jones 418 49.3 42
St. John's R. Luis 384 45.5 86
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
Marquette D. Joplin 114 26 88
St. John's Z. Ejiofor 178 92 86
Assists Player  
Marquette K. Jones 136
St. John's K. Richmond 105
Quickchart Matchup
blue bar Marquette Off vs  red bar St. John's Defense
blue bar 78.7 Points For
red bar 65.2 Points Against
blue bar 44.9 FG%
red bar 39.4 FG%
blue bar 30.4 Reb
red bar 30.4 Reb
red bar St. John's Off vs  blue bar Marquette Defense
red bar 79.3 Points For
blue bar 67.4 Points Against
red bar 45.3 FG%
blue bar 44.2 FG%
red bar 36.5 Reb
blue bar 31.7 Reb