NCAAM Game Of The Week: No. 12 St. Johns vs. No. 16 UConn

Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn. will be the site of a highly anticipated Big East duel between the No. 12 St. John’s Red Storm and the No. 19 UConn Huskies.

The battle features a basketball team getting their footing after a hire of the legendary head coach, Rick Pitino pitted against a basketball program that’s been perennial favorites to win it all recently.

In their previous game, the Johnnies picked up the first in against a ranked opponent this year, that being No. 11 Marquette. Guard Kadary Richmond was two assists shy of a triple-double with 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

If Richmond has a familiar name, you just can’t put your finger on it, you’re not crazy. At least not in that sense.

In 2021, Shaheen Holloway’s Saint Peter’s Men’s Basketball team was seeded in a 15 spot in March Madness took the college basketball world by storm, upsetting all of their opponents on their way to the elite eight.

Head Coach Shaheen Holloway left Saint Peter’s to accept a job with a more prestigious basketball program, the Seton Hall Pirates.

It was there with the Pirates that Holloway met Richmond. He turned Richmond into a walking bucket.

It took him a year to get used to Holloway’s coaching, but in the 2023-24 season he started all but one game for the Pirates, enroute to averaging 15.7 points per game. His durability and scoring was instrumental for his team.

Richmond entered the transfer portal as the number one basketball player looking for a new school. Before long, Pitino snatched him up to take a seasoned fifth year senior in his second year of being head man for the Johnnies.

This year, Huskies’ head man Dan Hurley is celebrating a returning player from last year who was huge in UConn’s encore of being Natty Champs. Alex Karaban is averaging 36 minutes per game. A reminder that each college game is 40 minutes long. Yeah, that’s pretty insane.

He’s not only reliable. He’s also an insane scorer. Tied for first on your team in scoring isn’t too bad, especially when you’re scoring 15 a game and you’ve missed two games.

Karaban, the walking Swiss Army Knife, is second on his team in assists and third on his team in rebounds. Did I mention that he’s missed two games?

Although Karaban has been insane for the Huskies this year, the team as a whole has struggled somewhat. When you lose names like Tristan Newton, Cam Spencer and Donovan Clingan, it’s hard to come back from.

Hurley tried to address the loss of Tristan Newton with the acquisition of Aidan Mahaney out of the transfer portal from Saint Mary’s, but Mahaney has struggled mightily since moving from the west coast to the east coast.

He’s dipped. from 33.2 minutes per game last year to 14 minutes per game this year and also 13.9 points per game last year to 5.3 per game this year.

This game is set to be an epic one. Tune in to FOX at 8 to see who will come out on top, the Red Storm or the Huskies.

Chase Yingling is a third-year majoring in digital and print journalism. To contact him, email cey5100@psu.edu.