This is it the final week of the regular season
How to Watch
Time: March, 2, 2022 at 6:30 PM ET
Where: Carnesecca Arena, Queens NY
TV: Fox Sports 1
Stream: Fox Sports Go
Records: Xavier (17-11, 7-10) || St. John’s (15-13, 7-10)
Rankings: Xavier (#46 KenPom) || St. John’s (#70 KenPom)
Betting Odds
Spread: Xavier +1.5 (-111) || St. John’s -1.5 (-109)
O/U: 155.5
This is it. We have arrived at the final week of the regular season. Postseason play and all the madness that comes along with it are just around the corner, but before we get there, we still have some games left on the docket. Among those remaining are the final two regular season games on the schedule for teams of the Big East. For Xavier and St. John’s that means one more time on the floor to complete their regular season series against each other.
Last time out the Johnnies managed to pull off the win on the road at the Cintas Center against the Musketeers winning by a score of 86 to 73. For the time it seemed that the win would give St. John’s a boost to end their season on a high note which signs initially seemed to be point in that direction as the Johnnies followed things up with a win over Butler, but then things reverted back to where they were before. Heading into this game the Johnnies have lost their last two on the trot to Creighton and DePaul, two games where they were in the mix but ultimately could not seal the deal. These two losses also continued a trend tit-for-tat trading two wins on the trot for two losses in return. A sort of inconsistent consistency and yet weirdly they are on pace for a winning season though not exactly that will be one to remember.
Xavier on the hand have been a bit of a tailspin to end the season. The loss at Cintas to St. John’s was the beginning of what would become a four-game losing streak. This streak included the toughest stretch of their schedule with the next three losses coming after the loss to the Red Storm being back-to-back on the road against Connecticut and Providence, then a home loss to Seton Hall. Not exactly a great way to begin the final stretch of the regular season. Depending on how this game against St. John’s goes and their final game against Georgetown it will be interesting to see the implications it might have for the Musketeers and their tournament implications.
Speaking off implications this game between Xavier and St. John’s also has implications for the seeding in the Big East Tournament as both teams are sitting on 7-10 records in conference play. A win for either could determine who is playing Wednesday versus Thursday.
It will be interesting to see how Xavier adapts to this game as opposed to the first time they played each other. Julian Champagnie had one of his best games that night against the Musketeers with 27 points and carried the scoring load for the Johnnies, whereas Jack Nunge continued as streak of 22-point games though in the case of Xavier had a more well-rounded scoring approach. One of the big things though will be interesting to see how the Musketeers handle the St. John’s defensive pressure though on the reverse end it will be interesting to see how St. John’s manages to get some consistency in their play.
In all there are a lot of different aspects on hand for this game and a lot at play. More so than just St. John’s looking to complete the regular season sweep of Xavier. Travis Steele and the Musketeers will be looking to stop the slide and end their regular season on a high note while St. John’s are looking for a final kick start to close out theirs. In all it should be interesting to see how it all plays out.