St. John's looks to get back on track vs. Butler

St. John's is amongst the highest scoring teams in the Big East so far but was deflated by its inability to make shots in its last outing.

After its worst display on offense this season, the Red Storm attempt to get back on track Saturday afternoon when they host Butler in Queens, N.Y.

The Red Storm (11-3, 2-1 Big East) are averaging 82.7 points, second in the conference behind UConn's 83.7 but have had mixed results in their three league games so far. St. John's shot 55 percent in a blowout win over DePaul on Dec. 17 and shot 39.7 percent three days later when it erased a 16-point deficit to win at Providence.

At Creighton on Tuesday, the Red Storm shot 36.8 percent in a 57-56 loss when they lost an 11-point lead in the first half. It was the third time this season they finished under 40 percent from the field and their second-lowest point total in two seasons under coach Rick Pitino.

"We played with urgency," Pitino said after his team missed 13 of 22 layup attempts. "The weakness of this team is when they miss a shot, they deflate. They let it affect their play and they're all guilty of it. "

The Red Storm head into their second conference game at their on-campus arena led by R.J. Luis and Zuby Ejiofor, who have combined to be their leading scorers 13 times. In Tuesday's game, Ejiofor led the Red Storm with 16 points and is averaging 18.8 in his past six games. Luis finished with a season-low eight points Tuesday, shot 4-of-15 and missed two shots in the final seconds.

Butler (7-7, 0-3) is on a six-game losing streak with four of those setbacks are by single digits, though its most recent game might have been the worst showing down the stretch. In Wednesday's 73-65 home loss to Villanova, Butler lost a 13-point lead by allowing a game-ending 22-1 run.

"I thought we were ready to play this game as best as we possibly could be and just down the stretch we played with panic for some reason both offensively and defensively," Butler coach Thad Matta said after his team missed its final nine shots over the final 6:03.

Jahmyl Telfort, who is averaging 16.1 points, scored 25 but is on a run of inconsistent showings. He scored his second-most points of the season after finishing with seven in a four-point loss against UConn on Dec. 21.

The Bulldogs are hoping to get more from Pierre Brooks and Patrick McCaffery, who average 14.6 and 12.8 respectively. The backcourt duo combined for 17 points Wednesday on 6-of-20 from the floor after combining for 30 in the UConn loss.

--Field Level Media