Emotions will be high for the Red Storm.
Last weekend, just after the St. John’s Red Storm had defeated Harvard 77-64, the news hit that their legendary former coach, Lou Carnesecca, had passed away just a few weeks short of his 100th birthday.
Today, the Kansas State Wildcats have the honor of playing in the first men’s game to be played in the arena named for that legend since his passing.
One would have expected this game to have been played at Madison Square Garden given the high profile of the involved teams, but the Garden had a scheduling squish this weekend with the Rangers playing there Friday night and the Knicks scheduled for tonight. So instead, the teams will meet at the relatively small Carnesecca Arena (5,602) on a day when it should be very, very full. Pregame ceremonies will honor Carnesecca, and it’s going to be an emotional day for the Red Storm.
Let’s hope the Wildcats can handle it. St. John’s is favored by 10.5, over at 148.5, which looks like an 80-69 win for the Red Storm.
This is only the third meeting between the teams, and the first outside of the state of Kansas as well as the first in almost 60 years. The Cats won 63-50 in Manhattan in 1961, and lost 72-65 in Lawrence in 1965 as part of the Sunflower Doubleheader where St. John’s also played Kansas the following day (and lost 61-55). The Red Storm are led by Rick Pitino, and you probably don’t need us to tell you anything about Rick Pitino.
Tipoff is at 10:30am CT on FOX with Brandon Gaudin and Donny Marshall. Streaming via FOX (cable/satellite subscription required). Audio on the K-State Sports Network with Wyatt Thompson and Stan Weber. Live stats via StatBroadcast.