St. John's seeks upset of No. 12 Georgetown

Washington, D.C. – The 12th-ranked Georgetown Hoyas will try to bounce back from a recent loss as they play host to the St. John's Red Storm today in a Big East Conference clash at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

This is the longest series in Georgetown history, this being the 97th all-time meeting between the two. St. John's holds a 53-43 series advantage, but the Hoyas have won eight of the last 11 meetings, including a 69-49 decision in their first encounter this season on January 15.

St. John's enters today's contest with a 10-14 overall record and a 4-8 mark in Big East play after suffering a 76-54 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats on Wednesday. The Red Storm have a six-man rotation of all first-year players, so there is certainly room for growth and much-needed improvement. Head coach Steve Lavin has missed a considerable amount of time due to illness, which has put assistant coach Mike Dunlap in charge of the inexperienced roster. The Red Storm have been outscored by an average of 7.1 ppg during league play.

D'Angelo Harrison and Moe Harkless will need to come up big to push the Red Storm past Georgetown today. Harrison leads the team in scoring this season with 16.4 ppg on 38.1 percent shooting from the field and 37.1 percent from beyond the arc. Harkless is close behind, as he carries averages of 15.5 points and a team-high 8.5 rebounds per contest. God'sgift Achiuwa adds 9.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game to the mix. Harrison was the only player who managed to score in double figures in the lopsided loss to Cincinnati, as he finished with 13 points.

Head coach John Thompson III has led the Hoyas to an 18-5 overall record and an 8-4 mark in Big East action so far. Georgetown lost a close overtime battle to the conference-leading Syracuse Orange its last time out, 64-61, which snapped a two-game win streak. The Hoyas were held to 33.3 percent shooting from the floor, but easily won the rebounding battle (48-30) to keep the game close. Georgetown has outscored its Big East rivals by an average of 4.8 ppg, which is the third-highest scoring differential in the conference at the moment.

Jason Clark averages team-highs of 15.0 points and 1.8 steals per game for the Hoyas, and the senior guard has scored in double figures in three straight outings. Hollis Thompson and Henry Sims are both vital to the Hoyas' success as well, as the former is second on the team with a scoring average of 13.6 ppg. Porter came up big off the bench in the overtime loss to the Orange, as he scored a team-high 13 points.