Today, the Seton Hall Pirates (11-7, 2-3 Big East) travel to Queens in New York to take on the St. John’s Red Storm (10-8, 0-5 Big East). From the view of a Pirates fan, I am very concerned. Sure, Seton Hall is coming off of a brilliant win against Georgetown, winning in DC for the first time in 10 years, but this seems like a trap game. I am not even sure that Seton Hall is good enough to officially have anything labeled a trap game, but it sure does feel like one.
The Red Storm have yet to win a Big East game. After going a very respectable 10-2 before Big East play, they lost 4 straight. Then came a double over-time loss against a strong Providence team. Next came a break in their conference schedule where they finally managed to get a win against Dartmouth. The Red Storm are getting better, while Seton Hall continues to deal with the injury bug that has plagued them for seasons.
Rather than playing at their usual venue of Madison Square Garden, this game takes place in the much humbler Carnesecca Arena on their campus, allowing a much more intimate and noisy atmosphere. Worse yet, I saw a truly terrifying tweet come up on my timeline.
St. John’s is 26-5 at Carnesecca Arena under Steve Lavin. Losses: PC (’14), UNC-A (’12), N’eastern (’11), Cincy (’11), St. Bona (’10)
— Chris McManus (@CerasolisGhost) January 23, 2014
That is an outstanding home record. If the Red Storm are going to finally get a win, the Carnesecca Arena is the place to do it. Tipoff is 7, and I hope the Pirates can rise to the occasion.
