The St. John's Red Storm men's basketball program will be looking to start the new year with a bang Tuesday as the Johnnies host No. 11 Louisville Cardinals in a Big East Conference match-up (7 p.m. on SNY) at Madison Square Garden. The contest will be the front end of a double-header at MSG, which will feature Iona Gaels against Siena Saints in the nightcap.
The Red Storm (7-6, 1-1 Big East) will be looking to rebound from a 83-69 loss at No. 4 Connecticut Huskies Saturday. Freshman guard D'Angelo Harrison tallied a team-best 17 points, four assists and three steals for St. John's, which trailed by as much as 23 points.
The loss came a few days after the Red Storm opened up league play with a dominating 91-67 victory over the Providence Friars. In that game, freshman guard Moe Harkless netted a collegiate-best 32 points, while Harrison added 22. In league games, Harkless leads all of the Big East in scoring average (24.2 points per game).
Meanwhile, Louisville is on two-game losing streak, which includes losses to No. 9 Georgetown Hoyas, Dec. 28, and at No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats, Dec. 31, respectively. However, Cardinals fans aren't too worried about their program, who before the back-to-back losses earned 12 straight victories and moved up to No. 4 in the college basketball rankings.
Currently, five Cardinals players are averaging nine or more points per game, as senior guard Kyle Kuric paces all of them with 12.7 ppg. Sophomore guard Russ Smith isn't far behind averaging 12.2 ppg, while sophomore center Gorgui Dieng is posting 10.1 ppg and 9.6 rebound per game.
For more on St. John's visit the SB Nation blog, Rumble in the Garden, while Card Chronicle has everything on Louisville.