Duke at St. John’s

Written by Jack Jones - Google +

St. John’s will complete a brutal stretch of eight straight games against Top 25 opponents when they host the third-ranked Duke Blue Devils at Madison Square Garden Sunday. Duke’s last loss to a non-conference opponent came exactly one year ago last January, with an 89-77 setback against then-No. 7 Georgetown. The Blue Devils will be going for their eighth straight victory over the Red Storm Sunday. The spread on this game show us a line of Duke -8.5 over St. John’s with a total set of 143 points.

Duke (19-1, 6-1) has won 20 straight non-conference games and they enter on a four-game winning streak since their one and only loss this season to Florida State. Nolan Smith has really picked up his play, averaging 24.5 points and 5.8 assists during their winning streak. He isn’t getting a lot of talk for National Player of the Year, but he should certainly be in the running as he leads the team in points (20.5) and assists (5.7) this season.

Smith put up 28 points in the Blue Devils 84-68 victory over Boston College last time out. Duke’s depth was on fully display in that win over the Eagles, as Seth Curry scored 20 points and Ryan Kelly chipped in 14. They made up for a quiet night from Kyle Singler, who went just 5-of-14 from the field and scored 14 points. The Blue Devils have played well at Madison Square Garden. They have won five straight there and 12 of their last 13 overall.

St. John’s (11-8, 4-5) is 4-1 in games played at MSG this season. During this seven game stretch of Top 25 opponents, they have lost three straight and five of seven. Their latest loss was a 77-52 defeat at the hands of No. 21 Georgetown in which the Red Storm shot a season-low 33.9 percent. First-year head coach Steve Lavin knew the challenge that lied ahead when he took this job, and he has done as good of a job as anyone could expect given the schedule. Lavin is 1-3 as a head coach all-time against Duke, and all four of those games came when the Blue Devils were ranked sixth or higher.

The Red Storm must get leading scorers Dwight Hardy and Justin Brownlee going. Hardy is has scored 9.0 points per game while Brownlee has put up 7.7 points during their three-game skid. Both players are 5.5 points below their season averages over that span, as Hardy scores 14.5 points and Brownlee averages 13.2 points per contest on the season. The Red Storm’s five leading scorers are all seniors and certainly the experience they’ve gained by playing such a tough schedule will give them a chance to knock off the Blue Devils.

Projected Score at Sports Interaction: Duke 76 – St. John’s 67

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