St. John's could use a strong road win to impress the NCAA tournament selection committee. A victory at Notre Dame on Tuesday might do the trick. The Red Storm did not do themselves any favors with a loss at Providence on Saturday and have dropped four of their last five games. The 24th-ranked Fighting Irish will be celebrating senior night against St. John's as they attempt to make up the half-game deficit to fourth-place Pittsburgh.Red Storm coach Steve Lavin suspended leading scorer D'Angelo Harrison for the remainder of the season Friday, a move that will be taken into account by the selection committee. Without Harrison, St. John's shot 37.3 percent and was outrebounded by the Friars. Notre Dame, which lost at the Red Storm on Jan. 15, will be waving goodbye to start Jack Cooley during Senior Night festivities. The 6-9 forward is averaging a double-double but has been battling flu-like symptoms for the past week.TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2ABOUT ST. JOHN'S (16-12, 8-8 Big East): Between Harrison's suspension and the team's recent swoon, the Red Storm might have to win their final two regular season games and make a deep run in the Big East tournament to have a chance at the field of 68. St. John's put itself in that discussion with a five-game winning streak that began with the triumph over the Fighting Irish. The Red Storm, though, have lost five of their last seven games since and are 0-4 on the road. Their only road victory over a winning team in the Big East came Jan. 5 at Cincinnati 53-52. JaKarr Sampson led the way with 17 points in the Jan. 15 meeting and will be counted on to do the bulk of the scoring in Harrison's absence. The freshman forward had a season-high 22 points Saturday.ABOUT NOTRE DAME (22-7, 10-6): The Fighting Irish are close to a lock for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament but could use wins over St. John's and at Louisville in their final two regular season tests to really secure their fate. Notre Dame lost at Marquette over the weekend while Cooley dealt with illness. Cooley, who averages 13.9 points and 10.6 rebounds, was held scoreless in 15 minutes Saturday before being shut down in the 72-64 setback. The Fighting Irish are tied with Syracuse for fifth place in the Big East, just behind Pittsburgh. The top four seeds get a double-bye in the Big East tournament, and Notre Dame owns the tiebreaker over the Panthers.TIP-INS1. Sampson leads all Big East freshmen in scoring (15) and rebounding (6.6).2. Notre Dame leads the Big East in 3-point percent (.370) while St. John's ranks last (.290).3. The Fighting Irish have six seniors on the roster, including sixth-year graduate student Scott Martin. Martin has not played in over a month because of knee problems.PREDICTION: Notre Dame 68, St. John's 62
Preview: St. John's at Notre Dame
Published: Mar 04 2013 05:22:45 PM EST
Updated On: Mar 04 2013 05:22:47 PM EST
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