St. Johns vs Creighton - News & Notes

St. John’s hosts its BIG EAST opener for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign, which was also the last time the Red Storm won a conference debut defeating Providence 91-67 on Dec. 27, 2011 in Queens.

The Red Storm is 6-2 at home this season and has held teams below 60 points in 5 of the 8 contests. Freshmen Federico Mussini (13.8 ppg) and Yankuba Sima (9.8 ppg) are two of the team’s top three scorers at home. 

Mussini has hit 20 of his 30 3-pointers in home contests while Sima is averaging 8.6 rebounds per game.

Only 4 players on St. John’s roster have experienced BIG EAST competition. 

Among the team’s newcomers, Durand Johnson is the only player to have previously faced a BIG EAST opponent. As a freshman in 2012-13, Johnson played in all 18 regular-season BIG EAST games at Pitt, which included a season-high 13 point effort at Villanova.

St. John’s is tied for fifth in Division I averaging 6.5 blocks per game. 

Freshman center Yankuba Sima leads the country with 46 blocks and tops the BIG EAST with 3.5 per game.  

Freshman forward Kassoum Yakwe is averaging 2.0 blocks this season.

Four of the Red Storm’s top five scorers are newcomers (Mussini, Johnson, Mvouika, Sima) who have combined for 64 percent of the team’s scoring offense. 

Mussini (14.0 ppg) is the second highest scoring freshman in the BIG EAST.

 

About the Series with Creighton

Record
St. John’s leads 7-4 overall, 2-2 in BIG EAST
(4-0 home, 1-4 away, 2-0 neutral)

Overview
St. John’s meets Creighton for the 12th time in a series that dates back to 1961. 

The programs have split regular-season contests as BIG EAST rivals the past two years with each team holding serve on its home court. 

There was a 43-year hiatus in the series before their first conference game on Jan. 28, 2015. 

St. John’s has won two of the last three contests most recently picking up an 18-point win (84-66) on Feb. 7, 2015 at Madison Square Garden.

Coaches
Chris Mullin is in his first year as head coach at St. John’s. 

He was named the 20th coach in program history on April 1, 2015.
Mullin returned to his alma mater with nearly a decade of NBA front office experience with the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings. 

Mullin is the only current Division I coach to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player.
 

Greg McDermott is in his sixth season as head coach at Creighton.
He has a 130-61 record with the Bluejays and a 410-256 overall mark in 22 seasons as a head coach.

Before Creighton, McDermott was the head coach at Iowa State, Northern Iowa, North Dakota State and Wayne State. 

Previous Starters (GP-GS) Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG Notes

#4 - G - Federico Mussini (13-13) 6-1 160 Fr. 14.0 2.7

# Top-15 in BIG EAST 14.0 PPG, 82.9 FT%, 1.3 SPG, 30 3FGs made

#5 - G/F - Durand Johnson (13-13) 6-6 210 Gr. 11.6 4.7 

Scored double-figures 5 of the last 6 games (13.0 ppg)
 

#2 - F - Christian Jones (13-13) 6-7 230 R-Jr. 8.5 5.6 

Averaged 10.0 points (60.0 FG%) and 7.5 rebounds last 2 games
 

#24 - G/F - Ron Mvouika (13-11) 6-6 210 Gr. 8.8 4.2 

11th in BIG EAST shooting 41.5% from 3-point range
 

#35 - C - Yankuba Sima (13-13) 6-11 215 Fr. 8.4 7.0 

BIG EAST leader and 2nd in NCAA D1 with 3.5 blocks per game
 

 

Off the Bench (GP-GS) Ht. Wt. Yr. PPG RPG Notes 

#0 - G - Malik Ellison (5-2) 6-6 205 Fr. 5.6 2.2 

Returned to action vs Incarnate Word; missed 8 games (injury)
 

#1 - F - Amar Alibegovic (13-0) 6-9 235 So. 4.8 2.7 

15 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists in win over Syracuse
 

#10 - G - Felix Balamou (7-0) 6-4 205 Sr. 7.4 5.1 

Second on team with 22 assists, more than first 3 years combined
 

#12 - G - Elijah Holifield (6-0) 6-2 175 Fr. 0.5 0.7 

Played a season-high 9' versus Chaminade
 

#14 - F - Kassoum Yakwe (7-0) 6-7 205 Fr. 6.1 3.1 

Averaging 2.0 blocks per game; 14 blocks top-15 in BIG EAST