St. John's vs Franklin Pierce: game thread, TV, radio info

TV/ Radio

Tonight's game will be produced by SJU-TV, with Jonathan Yardley and former St. John's guard Tarik Turner on the broadcast.

On radio, the game will be on WNYM 970 AM and on RedStormSports.com with play-by-play by John Minko and analyst Brandon Tierney.

Preview

As part of the NIT Season Tip-Off, St. John's will take on Division II Franklin Pierce.

Yes, it's a Division II school, but for St. John's, these three opening games within a week give the team a chance to recover from the losses of major contributors last year and this year (see: Keith Thomas; see: Adonis De La Rosa) and work on their style of play before facing the Minnesota Golden Gophers next week.

Scouting St. John's

Last Friday's opener was mostly a success, with the Johnnies winning 77-58.

The Red Storm held NJIT to 29% shooting inside the arc and handled the ball well. The 2/16 shooting from beyond the arc was unsightly, however, and the Johnnies will want to work on that.

St. John's will also want to get contributions from Phil Greene IV, who went 2/9, and Amar Alibegovic, who took no shots but had two fouls and two turnovers.

Scouting Franklin Pierce

On the Franklin Pierce side, the Rumble's Kenneth Garner got in touch with Ravens' assistant Casey Cosgrove.

"It's a great opportunity to be in the NIT against two great programs in St. John's and Minnesota," Cosgrove said. "We were asked by our NE-10 commissioner that the NIT was looking for a team from our league to be in the tournament and we jumped at the opportunity."

What the Ravens hope to get out of the experience? Cosgrove told the Rumble, "we hope to be competitive and continue to get better before our conference play starts." The Ravens want to work on getting out in transition and want to "compete every night at a high level and never get out worked."

Cosgrove noted his team was young, but seniors Paul Becklens and Ryen Vilmont would lead, along with talented sophomore Donte Gittens.

The Ravens know the Red Storm have a lot of athleticism. "The biggest thing for us is we need to try and slow them down in transition," Cosgrove said, "which is obviously easier said than done."

What are your predictions for tonight's score?

How many blocks will Chris Obekpa have?

Will the walk-ons get to play again?