St. John’s Big East schedule announced

St. John’s Big East schedule was announced today, completing the dates and most of the times (Georgia Tech’s time has not been announced) for what could be a make-or-break season for the Johnnies under Chris Mullin.

And what a tough start to Big East play this team will kick off with, after integrating a number of new pieces in what should be a mostly-forgiving non-conference schedule.

The Johnnies will open up Big East play on December 29th at the Prudential Center in New Jersey taking on the Seton Hall Pirates, who are going through some transition of their own, but should bring in potent scoring.

St. John’s will then play their first home game on New Year’s Day when they play Marquette, the offensively powerful squad that reloads with even more scoring. They will then travel to D.C. for Georgetown on January 5th on CBS at 1:00 PM for the national audience; and three days later play the defending National Champion Villanova Wildcats.

The first three out of four games on the road will be a true test for St. John’s, but a win over Villanova like last year could ignite confidence in this team that saw their true potential late last season.

The Johnnies will finish January by playing the next three out of five games at home. They will play DePaul, Creighton and Georgetown at home and Butler and Creighton on the road.

The Georgetown game on January 27th will be their first Big East conference game played at Madison Square Garden.

Heading into February, St. John’s will play a crucial stretch of games at home, including the final six of seven games of the month — a chance to get rolling if the team makes it to NCAA Tournament consideration.

St. John’s will play two road games to begin the month, the must-watch non-conference game at Duke, and then play Marquette.

Providence, Villanova and Seton Hall will travel to New York and play at the Garden and Butler and Xavier will visit the Johnnies in Queens. One road game at Providence will be played during that stretch. The last home game will be played on February 28th at Carnesecca Arena, which should be senior night for Marvin Clark II and could very well be Shamorie Ponds’ last game in a St. John’s uniform.

The Big East schedule will wrap up for St. John’s with two games on the road in March.

Will Chris Mullin’s team in year four take that next step? Time will tell, but this team and staff has another year of experience under their belt and are expected to be a high scoring offense. Winning in March is what matters and the schedule sets up the Johnnies to possibly gain momentum as the calendar turns to that critical month.

Breakdown of Conference Games

Carnesecca Arena games

Jan 1 vs Marquette

Jan 12 vs DePaul

Jan 16 vs Creighton

Feb 12 vs Butler

Feb 28 vs Xavier

Madison Square Garden games

Jan 27 vs Hoyas

Feb 9 vs Providence

Feb 17 vs Villanova

Feb 23 vs Seton Hall

Road games

Dec 29 at Seton Hall (N.J.)

Jan 5 at Georgetown

Jan 8 at Villanova

Jan 19 at Butler

Jan 30 at Creighton

Feb 5 at Marquette

Feb 20 at Providence

March 3 at DePaul

March 9 at Xavier