G L I D E H O Y A S: Second chance and second time around for the Hoyas versus St. John's

SECOND TIME AROUND HOYAS!

SHALAMAR

VS.

Well, Hoyanation and friends from 8 days down to 1 day, it's been a little while which seemed like eternity for us Hoya lovers and basketball junkies to see our Hoyas in action. It's a great thing I live in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and there are lots of college games to attend, but I prefer to attend some of the great high school games in the area. This indeed helped me pass the time away until our next Hoyas game against the St. John's Red Storm. I'm just glad the time is here, "whew." I even went to a game and saw a player that could be a Hoya. His name is Brandon Peeler (Riverdale Baptist), a special kid and special player.

I was like "wow" this kid is a perfect fit into our system that's for sure. The previous night, which was Friday, I went to the Bishop O'Connell/McNamara game. The Bishop O'Connell Knights lost the McNamara Mustangs. The Mustangs were a great deep and defensive team playing in the one of the best conferences in the land (WCAC). The game was a great matchup. On Sunday, I went over to Hyattsville, Maryland to check out the Bishop O'Connell versus DeMatha game featuring our future Hoya Mikael Hopkins. This game was all of it without a doubt, and I knew it would be a great game and it was. Bishop O'Connell won 61-58.

The Hoyas (14-5 3-4) are having a second chance to play and beat the St. John's Red Storm (11-7 4-4) the second time around in a home game matchup here in the D.C. The Hoyas lost their last meeting with the Red Storm on January 3, 2011, 61-58. This game was played at Madison Square Garden in NYC. St. John's held the Georgetown big three scorers of Austin Freeman, Chris Wright and Jason Clark to 7-of-25 from the field, and the 58 points is the third fewest for the Hoyas all season. A similar defensive effort would be critical in getting the series sweep on the road.

When the teams first met on Jan. 3, the Red Storm eked out a three-point win. Georgetown’s big three guards went 7-25 from the floor and 2-13 from 3-point range, and will obviously need to better those numbers against the deep and athletic St. John’s squad to take the rematch at home.

The Hoyas are coming off of a 2 game win streak against Rutgers and tough, gut check game on the road against the Seton Hall Pirates.

This game gave the Hoyas lots of confidence. Now they know what it means to be scrappy and do whatever it takes to get the "W." Sometimes it may not pretty but a "win" is a "win" and that's all what matters. The Hoyas are well rested both mentally and physically and should come out of the gates fast, and I don't expect them to look back. It’s a huge confidence booster. We had a little adversity, but this group has never pointed fingers, has always stayed together. This group is together as one unit.”—F Julian Vaughn

On the another note the Red Storm have lost the last two games against #19 Louisville on the road and to #23 Cincinnati 51-53 at home, so the momentum for the Red Storm does not look all that great for them, but you never know, it's still the unpredictable Big East. A big factor in the Red Storm’s loss to Cincinnati was the team shooting 12-of-26 from the free throw line (46.2). It had gone at least 75% from the line over the previous eight games.

“As we clanked free throw after free throw, I knew we were laboring from the charity stripe, but pleased that we had the resiliency to be where we were. It makes this loss that much more heartbreaking.”—Coach Steve Lavin told the New York Daily News after his team’s loss to Cincinnati.

From top to bottom any of these teams can knock you off on any given night. That's what's so great about the #1 Conference in NCAA Division 1 Basketball, the "unpredictability" of the Big East Conference.

Oh, by the way, I watched Notre Dame beat Pitt last night in a Big East road game. Coach Brey told his team to milk the shot clock, and when Pitt made a small run he called a timeout to slow Pitt down even more. I found this to be a great and smart tactic on he and his team's behalf. I was rolling too. LOL! - Glide

SECOND CHANCE HOYAS