Syracuse takes on St. John’s in the Big East quarterfinals Thursday in the second matchup between the two teams this season at Madison Square Garden.

In the first game, the Orange shredded a Red Storm team that wasn’t at nearly the same place it is now, winning 76-59 on Jan. 12. At the time, the win pushed an undefeated Orange team to 17-0. St. John’s has gone 11-5 since the loss to SU, including winning 10 of its last 12. The Red Storm defeated Rutgers, 65-63, in the second round of the Big East tournament Wednesday.

The winner of the SU-SJU matchup will play the winner of Pittsburgh and Connecticut in the Big East semifinals. Pitt and UConn face off at noon Thursday, right before the 2 p.m. tipoff of Syracuse and St. John’s.

POINT GUARD

Scoop Jardine

6-2, 190, JR.

12.6 PPG, 6.0 APG

Dwight Hardy

6-2, 196, SR.

17.9 PPG, 1.9 APG

Hardy struggled against Rutgers, making only 5-of-17 shots. Not surprisingly, St. John’s struggled to pull out a win. Jardine is putting everything together at the right time of the season for SU.

SHOOTING GUARD

Brandon Triche

6-4, 205, SO.

11.2 PPG, 2.8 APG

Paris Horne

6-3, 189, SR.

7.7 PPG, 1.6 APG

Horne is the best shooter the Red Storm has to offer at 37.9 percent from beyond the arc. Triche is shooting 4-of-13 in his past two games.

SMALL FORWARD

Kris Joseph

6-7, 210, JR.

14.2 PPG, 4.9 RPG

D.J. Kennedy

6-5, 214, SR.

10.7 PPG, 5.7 RPG

Joseph has been something of an afterthought after his 21-point performance against Rutgers. Kennedy could frustrate him on defense, as he’s fourth in the Big East with 1.8 steals per game.

POWER FORWARD

Rick Jackson

6-9, 240, SR.

13.1 PPG, 10.7 RPG

Dwayne Polee II

6-7, 193, FR.

4.3 PPG, 2.5 RPG

Jackson is the most dominant big man in the Big East, and he has a huge size advantage here. Polee isn’t much of a threat, and many of these minutes will likely go to the bigger Sean Evans and Dele Coker.

CENTER

Baye Moussa Keita

6-10, 213, FR.

2.4 PPG, 4.1 RPG

Justin Brownlee

6-7, 219, SR.

12.1 PPG, 5.3 RPG

Brownlee does his best work in the second half, scoring 6.6 points and shooting 53.4 percent in the second half. Moussa Keita needs to be more of a force on the glass like he was against DePaul (seven rebounds) than in the previous four games (10 combined).

 

Free throws

• Syracuse forward Rick Jackson was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year on Monday.

• The last time Syracuse was a No. 4 seed in the Big East tournament, the Orange fell 57-54 to Boston College in the quarterfinal round in 2004.

Stat to know

Teams receiving a double-bye in the Big East tournament are just 7-6 overall since the conference instituted the format two years ago.

Big number: 1

The number of teams that have beaten St. John’s in Madison Square Garden this season. That team was Syracuse, who blew out the Red Storm 76-59 on Jan. 12.

Fortune Cookie

Apples for the boys

Beat writer predictions

Brett LoGiurato

Syracuse 68, St. John’s 61

Rick Jackson will dominate on the glass against a St. John’s team that looked shaky Wednesday. SU moves on to face Connecticut in the semis.

Tony Olivero

Syracuse 74, St. John’s 72

Here we go again.

Andrew L. John

Syracuse 73, St. John’s 68

The Johnnies caught a break Wednesday, but the New York bias is nullified in this one.

Published on March 9, 2011 at 12:00 pm