The 2023 Big East Tournament kicks off at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday with 8th-seed St. John’s taking on 9th-seed Butler. We have a full breakdown of the matchup and our preview.
Butler Bulldogs (14-17) vs St. John’s Red Storm (17-14)
How to Watch:
- DATE: Wednesday, March 8th
- TIME: 3:00 p.m. ET
- CHANNEL: FS1
Tale of the Tape:
| BUTLER | STAT | ST. JOHN’S |
| 14-17 | Regular Season Record | 17-14 |
| 6-14 | Conference Record | 7-13 |
| 65.3 (370th) | Points Per Game | 77.6 (55th) |
| 67.7 (108th) | Points Allowed Per Game | 75.7 (325th) |
| 280th | KenPom Adjusted Tempo | 1st |
| 236th | KenPom Off Ranking | 111th |
| 55th | KenPom DEF Ranking |
71st
|
| 18th | KenPom Strength of Schedule |
65th |
Butler leaders:
- Jayden Taylor, G: 13.2 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.2 APG, 1.3 SPG
- Manny Bates, C: 11.6 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.9 BPG, 61.9% FG
St. John’s leaders:
- Joel Soriano, Sr. C – 15.2 PPG, 11.8 RPG, 1.2 APG, 1.3 BPG, 56.9%% FG
- David Jones, Jr. F – 13.1 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 1.6 APG, 1.3 SPG
Preview:
It’s weird to say St. John’s comes into this matchup playing better basketball since they’ve won three of their last six games, but that is in fact the case. They were also able to register a huge win over Providence and beat both DePaul and Georgetown as well, which shouldn’t be hard, but it was for some teams (more on that later).
The Red Storm’s losses were also top-tier Big East teams Creighton, UConn, and Marquette, so it’s hard to hold that against them too much.
Butler comes into the Big East Tournament having lost four of their last five games, including a loss at home to the worst team in the Big East, Georgetown, who beat Butler 68-62 to score just their second conference win. Butler’s only win during the last five games came against 9-22 DePaul, who has just three Big East wins. Even in that game, Butler had to make a last-possession stop to hold onto a 59-58 win at home. They also lost to In their season finale they lost to Xavier 78-66.
The biggest concern for the Bulldogs might be that they rank 354th in rebounding, which could be a problem against St. John’s center Joel Soriano, who made second-team all-Big East after his tremendous season.
These two teams did split the season series this year with both teams winning at home. St. John’s beat Butler at home 77-61 on January 10 and then Butler pulled out a 68-66 win at home on February 7. While this is technically a neutral site game, it’s really a home game for St. John’s since Madison Square Garden is essentially home court advantage for them. That could be a big edge given how the first two games went.
The other advantage is that Butler is banged up with Manny Bates, DJ Hughes, and Ali Ali, all questionable for Wednesday’s game and St. John’s is fairly healthy. When you factor in that St. John’s is just flat-out playing better right now, it could set up a quarterfinal showdown with Marquette, who St. John’s played close in a 96-94 loss just last week.
