Open Game Thread: St. John's vs. Niagara

St. John's vs. Niagara

When: Wednesday, December 9, 2015 5 p.m. ET

Where: Carnesecca Arena, Jamaica, New York

Where to Watch: FOX Sports 1

How to Listen: 970 WNYM

St. John's earned their first victory of the Chris Mullin era at Madison Square Garden on Sunday against St. Francis Brooklyn and now the team will return to campus for a match-up against the Niagara Purple Eagles (3-6).

Yankuba Sima will look to build on his best outing of the season (17 points and 10 boards) against a Purple Eagles front line that has just one player standing over 6'8." The Johnnies will run their offense through Sima and expect the home team to win the battle of the boards with Christian Jones and Kassoum Yakwe adding production in the paint alongside the freshman from Spain.

Mullin's squad will have to attempt to shut down Matt Scott (16.3 points per game) as the sophomore guard has been efficient (46 percent from the field) in his 32 minutes per game this season.

The Johnnies have struggled to defend the three this year, but they may receive the benefit of the doubt on Wednesday as the Purple Eagles knock down just 28 percent from long range. Scott is their best shooter from beyond the arc and he is only hitting 33 percent of those attempts.

Will Felix Balamou get the start tonight with Ron Mvouika struggling against St. Francis Brooklyn?

How many turnovers will the Johnnies have?

How do the Red Storm play in the first 10 minutes of the game with the early tip time and the crowd expecting to be on the lighter side?