The ASU basketball team is back in the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year and for the second straight year it will play in a First Four game in Dayton, Ohio.

The Sun Devils are a No. 11 seed in the West, along with their opponent in Dayton, St. John’s.

The winner of Wednesday’s game will face No. 6 seed Buffalo in Tulsa, Okla. on Friday.

How to watch: ASU vs. St. John’s

When: 6 p.m.

Channel: TruTV

Announcers: Spero Dedes, Len Elmore, Steve Smith, Ros Gold-Onwude

More information: The game will tip-off after the 3:40 p.m. First Four game between North Carolina Central and North Dakota State.

How to stream: The NCAA March Madness Live app is available for most devices, including iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Android handsets, Android tablets, Fire tablets, Chromecast, Alexa Skill for Amazon devices, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Xbox One. Coverage is free for the first three hours, but a paid TV subscription is required thereafter.

What channel is TruTV?

DirecTV: Channel 246. 

Dish Network: Channel 242.

Cox: Channel 45 or 1045 (HD)

CenturyLink: Channel 164, 165, 1164 (HD), or 1165 (HD).

Since the NCAA tournament added the play-in game with the expansion to 65 teams in 2001 and then two nights of First Four games when the field grew to 68 in 2011, the opening rounds have been at UD Arena. Sitting on the edge of campus and less than 2 miles from downtown, the venue accommodates 13,000-plus and has been the site for more NCAA tournament games than any other venue.

Dayton also has an advantageous geographic location, close to  a lot of the the US population and a reasonable trip for fans across the Midwest and East Coast. It is also a city that loves its basketball and has embraced the First Four.

Previous meeting between ASU, St. John’s 

In Dec. of 2017, ASU defeated St. John’s 82-70 in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic at Staples Center.

Redshirt-freshman Romello White was strong with 22 points and nine rebounds.

Guard Shamorie Ponds led St. John’s with 19 points. 

CLOSE

Coach Bobby Hurley and the team watch as they find out they are playing St John on Wednesday.
Must credit video Katryna Seki/SDA
Katryna Seki, SDA

Common foes

The only teams that both St. John’s and ASU faced this season are California and Princeton.

ASU played Princeton Dec. 29 and lost 67-66 at home in Tempe. St. John’s played the Tigers three weeks earlier at the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival and posted a 89-74 victory.

As for Cal, ASU swept its two Pac-12 games against the Golden Bears. St. John’s won the only meeting between the teams during the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y. in mid-November.

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How they got here

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St. John’s finished the season 21-12 overall and 8-10 in the Big East. The Red Storm fell to Marquette in the second round of its conference tournament and has lost four of its last five games. 

During the regular season St. John’s split its matchups with Villanova, while sweeping Marquette. In non-conference play, the Red Storm fell to Duke. 

ASU went 22-10 overall and 12-6 in Pac-12 Conference play. The Sun Devils fell to Oregon in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament.

During the regular season, it had wins some big wins, including victories over Kansas, Utah State, Washington, Mississippi State and Utah State.

Famous coaches

Chris Mullin: The fourth-year head coach at St. John’s. A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, he played at St. John’s himself before enjoying a 16-season NBA career. 

Bobby Hurley: The fourth-year head coach at ASU. Hurley has led the Sun Devils to back-to-back tournament berths for the first time since the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons.

Key players

Shamorie Ponds: The junior guard for St. John’s (6-foot-1, 175 pounds) from Brooklyn leads the team in scoring (19.5 ppg), assists (5.2 pg), and steals (2.6 pg).

LJ Figueroa: The 6-foot-6 guard for St. John’s leads the team with 6.2 rebounds per game, while adding 14.3 points per game. 

Remy Martin: The sophomore point guard injured his groin in ASU’s loss to Oregon, but it expected to play for the Sun Devils. he averages 13.4 points and 5.1 assists per game.

Luguentz Dort: The freshman shined at times for the Sun Devils, but has been inconsistent. He has averaged 16.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game for ASU.

More on St. John’s

Nickname: Red Storm. Location: New York City.

Record: 21-12, 8-10. Bid: Big East at-large.

Last appearance: 2015, lost to San Diego State in first round.

Coach: Chris Mullin (first appearance).

Overview: St. John’s seemed to be cruising into the NCAAs as the third-best team in the Big East before dropping three consecutive games to end the regular season and then suffering a 32-point loss to Marquette in the Big East tournament. This team doesn’t usually have any issue scoring, averaging more than 78 points a game thanks to Shamorie Ponds’ playmaking and an offense that features all starters averaging double figures. The downside to the Red Storm is teams with size can capitalize and the bench is short.

Projected starters: G Shamorie Ponds, 6-1, Jr. (19.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 5.2 apg, 2.6 spg, 84.1 FT%); G Mustapha Heron, 6-5, Jr. (14.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 42.1 3FG%); G/F LJ Figueroa, 6-6, So. (14.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 51.3 FG%); F Marvin Clark II, 6-7, Sr. (10.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg); G Justin Simon, 6-5, Jr. (10.4 pp, 3.2 apg).

More on ASU

Nickname: Sun Devils. Location: Tempe.

Record: 22-10, 12-6. Bid: Pac-12 at-large.

Last appearance: 2018, lost to Syracuse in First Four.

Coach: Bobby Hurley (0-2 in two appearances).

Overview: Talented but enigmatic, the Sun Devils own non-conference victories against Kansas, Mississippi State and Utah State, but also lost to Vanderbilt (which lost 20 consecutive games to end the season). Guard Luguentz Dort is Pac-12 freshman of the year. Sun Devils average 77.7 points and hold opponents to 41.1 percent shooting. At their best, they’re fierce on the boards, out-rebounding opponents by 4.8 a game and playing smothering defense.

Projected starters: G Remy Martin, 6-0, So. (13.4 ppg, 5.1 apg); G Luguentz Dort, 6-4, Fr. (16.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg); F Zylan Cheatham, 6-8, Sr. (11.8 ppg, 10.4 rpg); F Romello White, 6-8, So. (8.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg); G Rob Edwards, 6-4, Jr. (11.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 81.3 FT%).

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