St. John’s men’s basketball announces non-conference schedule

The St. John’s men’s basketball team unveiled their non-conference schedule for the 2022-23 season on Thursday morning. Tip-off times and networks will be announced at a later date.

The two most intriguing matchups on the schedule will be road contests against Iowa State on Sunday, December 4th and against Florida State on Saturday, December 17th.

The Cyclones made an impressive run to the Sweet Sixteen in head coach T.J. Otzelberger’s first season in Ames, but they will now be without star guards Izaiah Brockington (graduated) and Tyrese Hunter (transferred to Texas) for the 2022-23 season. Replacing them will be two former All-Atlantic 10 players grad-transferring from St. Bonaventure, Jaren Holmes and Osun Osunniyi. The Red Storm will also play in one of the most hostile environments in college basketball at Hilton Coliseum, where Iowa State went undefeated in non-conference play last season.

The Red Storm will meet the Seminoles for the first time ever in Sunrise, Florida at the FLA Live Arena, home of the NHL’s Florida Panthers. Florida State had an uncharacteristically mediocre season, going 17-14 and 10-10 in a weaker-than-usual ACC before missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2016. Former five-star recruit and reigning ACC Sixth Man of the Year Matthew Cleveland (11.5 ppg) returns to assume an alpha dog role on a talented team that also welcomes back Caleb Mills (12.7 ppg), Cam’Ron Fletcher (6.8 ppg), and Jalen Warley (3.7 ppg).

For the second time in the Big Ten and Big East’s Gavitt Games series, The Red Storm will host Nebraska on Thursday, November 17th at Carnesecca Arena. In their last and only meeting, St. John’s throttled the Cornhuskers 79-56 on November 16th, 2017. Shamorie Ponds tallied 22 points and 7 rebounds in the Red Storm’s blowout victory.

On November 21st and 22nd, St. John’s will play in the Empire Classic in a field that includes Syracuse, Richmond, and Temple. Matchups have yet to be announced, but the Red Storm will certainly hope to face Syracuse for the first time since 2016. The Johnnies ran their former Big East rival off of the Carrier Dome floor by a score of 93-60 in their last meeting.

The two other teams in the field are on different trajectories. Richmond will be losing most of their starters from last year’s A-10 championship team, including multiple time all-conference players Grant Golden (13.7 ppg) and Jacob Gilyard (13.3 ppg). Temple will seek to break into the NCAA tournament for the first time in head coach Aaron McKie’s tenure as Khalif Battle (21.4 ppg) and Damian Dunn (14.9 ppg) return for the Owls. St. John’s last played Richmond in the 2009 NIT in which they lost 75-69 in the first round, while the Red Storm last played Temple in the 2009-10 season when they beat the Owls by a score of 55-49.

Similarly to recent years, St. John’s will play several weak low-major opponents. For their season opener on Monday, November 7th, the Red Storm will play the Merrimack Warriors of the Northeast Conference. Other tune-up games include Lafayette, Central Connecticut State, Niagara, LIU, and New Hampshire. None of those teams finished within the top 180 in the final KenPom ratings for the 2021-22 season.