Marquette – St. John’s Game Canceled

The Big East announced three games have been canceled, with hopes to reschedule, due to COVID problems with St. John’s and Georgetown

Considering all the recent cancelations due to the Omicron Variant of Covid-19, it feels like this was inevitable. But the Big East formally announced that three conference games have been canceled in the coming week. Since you’re reading this on this website, yes, the list includes the Marquette tilt with St. John’s on Wednesday, December 29th.

The press release cites that the problems lie within St. John’s and Georgetown’s programs, with the other two games canceled in the set of three being the St Johns-Georgetown game on January 1st and a Xavier-Georgetown game on January 4th.

Both programs had their previous two matchups postponed and will now take a total of four games before potentially returning to action. The Red Storm won’t be back until at least January 5th, whereas the Hoyas next scheduled game is now the January 7th game against, as luck would have it, Marquette.

With the Big East reconsidering their forfeiture process in the light of just how many games have been altered, the game versus St. John’s will no longer be considered a victory for MU and will be rescheduled if possible. However, much like the situation with the women’s program, there are not a ton of opportunities with multiple days between games to comfortably fit another game into the schedule. And that’s not even considering how many other games St. John’s would have to make up and what mutual dates may be available.

On the court, missing the matchup with St. John’s is disappointing as it stands as a prime opportunity to take on a very similarly ranked program analytically and get back into the win column after two challenging losses to open the Big East season. From a measuring stick point of view, playing a team that sits just one spot above you in the KenPom (84 to MU’s 85 at the moment) is an excellent opportunity to test your mettle and establish yourselves in the conference. Unless something gives and this game finds a new date, it won’t be until the final day of the regular season until these two teams meet.

The Golden Eagles will now go 10 days between games, with their next scheduled matchup set for New Year’s Day against the Creighton Bluejays. Because all things are now connected, the CU program is coming off its own extended absence due to other teams’ problems, and have not played a game since a December 17th win over Villanova.