In some ways it was a must-win game for the Red Storm. Thanks to the COVID cancellations, they had not played for 17 days. For star scorer Julian Champagnie, his last game was 24 games ago.
The team had dealt with being sick, and were unable to practice as a team. On top of these challenges, three guards – Stef Smith, Raphael Pinzon and Tareq Colburn — were unavailable.
St. John’s last game was one to forget, the kind of game that looms large if a team is on the bubble. The Red Storm were playing a resurgent DePaul Blue Demon team with quality wins over Rutgers and Louisville this year.