The Big East Conference collected two impressive victories on Tuesday night.
On the basketball court, the St. John's Red Storm (7-3) survived an early 10-point deficit, 13 turnovers and Northwestern's junior forward John Shurna netting a game-best 28 points to win the MSG Holiday Festival Tournament at Madison Square Garden.
It was an all-around solid effort from St. John's after losing to Fordham and St. Bonaventure last week.
The Red Storm are fast and athletic but despite having 10 seniors on the roster, the Johnnies, at times, looked like a team of rookies.
In spurts, Northwestern's Princeton-style offense gave St. John's fits when all they had to do was cover Shurna, who netted 19 in the first half and nine in the first seven minutes of the second half.
Eventually, St. John's caught onto Northwestern's offense and, in the end, used Brownlee's and Burrell's inside scoring to win its second straight game.
Before the game, St. John's head coach Steve Lavin announced that redshirt sophomore guard Quincy Roberts will leave the program and transfer for the spring semester.
On the football field, the Louisville Cardinals defeated the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles, 31-28, in the Beef 'O' Brady Bowl in St. Petersburgh, FL at Tropicana Field.
The victory helped the Big East Conference start one-for-one in the early goings of the bowl season.
Also tonight, but on the hard court, the No. 5 Syracuse Orange host the Drexel Dragons (8-1) at 7 p.m. on ESPN3.
This will be the final non-conference game for SU (12-0), which begins league play, Dec. 28, against the Providence Friars (11-2).
Drexel, which has won six straight, is no pushover and is possibly the toughest non-conference opponent SU has faced.
Look for Syracuse to have trouble with the Dragons, which already won at Louisville on Dec. 14.