Winding Down

To beat Villanova at home, a team would have to play flawless basketball, or at least close to it. When West Virginia knocked off the Wildcats earlier this year, they used scorching three-point shooting. St. John's didn't play perfect basketball, and their shooting ended up far from accurate in a 65-52 loss at Villanova Wednesday. The Red Storm did a good job of keeping it close, but not of making Villanova sweat. They'll need a win over Rutgers on Sunday to have a shot at making the Big East tournament. Twelve of the 16 teams advance.

Villanova gives every team turnover problems, and with St. John's already prone to them, Wednesday's game became rather ugly. St. John's had 37 field goal attempts, 27 turnovers and 15 made field goals. They shot barely over 20 percent in the second half. They also couldn't guard Randy Foye, who lit up the scoreboard with 21. The Red Storm sit in a three-way tie for 12th with Providence and Notre Dame. The Firars play Marquette and the Fighting Irish take on DePaul. St. John's needs a win and some help when they take on Rutgers at home. If the Red Storm play as carelessly Sunday, it won't matter what the other teams do.

Photo by George Widman (AP) via Yahoo