No. 13 Villanova (20-5, 11-1) vs. St. John's (18-7, 6-6)
Madison Square Garden, New York; Sunday, 5 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: No. 13 Nova presents a tough challenge for St. John's. St. John's has won two of its three games against ranked opponents this season. Villanova beat Providence by 18 on Wednesday.
SQUAD LEADERSHIP: The explosive Shamorie Ponds has averaged 19.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists to lead the way for the Red Storm. Complementing Ponds is LJ Figueroa, who is putting up 14 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. The Wildcats have been led by Phil Booth, who is averaging 18.5 points.
FUELING THE OFFENSE: Ponds has had his hand in 41 percent of all St. John's field goals over the last five games. The junior guard has 33 field goals and 20 assists in those games.
ASSIST RATIOS: The Wildcats have recently gotten buckets via assists more often than the Red Storm. St. John's has 33 assists on 72 field goals (45.8 percent) over its past three contests while Villanova has assists on 43 of 72 field goals (59.7 percent) during its past three games.
DID YOU KNOW: St. John's has committed a turnover on just 14.8 percent of its possessions this season, which is the 10th-lowest rate among all Division I teams. The Red Storm have turned the ball over only 10.8 times per game this season.
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This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com
