Brown @ St. John's preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 20, 2009 ) Brown 76, St. John's 79

St. John's finally has a quality win under its belt as it prepares to host Brown on Tuesday. The Red Storm beat their first opponent that sports a winning record when they knocked West Virginia from the ranks of the unbeaten Saturday, and will try to avoid a letdown against the Bears.

Rasheem Dunn provided the late-game heroics as the Red Storm, whose first seven wins came against teams with a combined record of 20-41 as of Monday, played at Madison Square Garden for the first time this season. Dunn, who scored 13 points off the bench, came up with a steal and then drew a foul at the other end before sinking both free throws to provide the difference in a 70-68 victory. "It's the reason I came here," Dunn, a junior who transferred from Cleveland State by way of St. Francis (N.Y.), told the media of playing at Madison Square Garden. "I felt like I could play on the big stage. Not only that, but every day in practice we work on playing hard, playing smart, playing together." Brandon Anderson, who ranked 28th nationally entering Monday with 20.5 points per game, averaged 27.7 in the season's first three games but that number has fallen to 16.2 in his last five contests - three of which have been losses for the Bears, who succumbed to a barrage of 3-pointers in a 79-63 defeat at Stony Brook on Saturday.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

ABOUT BROWN (5-4): Tamenang Choh, who led the Ivy League in rebounding last season and is fourth this season, and Jaylan Gainey give coach Mike Martin a solid presence inside. Choh, a junior from Lowell, Mass., has scored in double figures in all nine games while producing three double-doubles and also dishing out 2.8 assists per game from his forward spot. Gainey, a sophomore, doesn't score much as he has more games with no points (two) than in double figures (one) but he is tops in the conference and ranked 19th in Division I with 2.71 blocks per game, including a school record-tying seven against Merrimack.

ABOUT ST. JOHN'S (8-2): The Red Storm are one of the top teams in the country in getting steals (9.8 per game) and that was certainly the case against West Virginia as they had a season-high 15 swipes, including 10 in the first half. Nick Rutherford, a senior who is on his third school after stops at Florida Atlantic and Monmouth, led the way with five steals and is doing the little things for St. John's, averaging three assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals. Top scorer LJ Figueroa has rebounded from a couple subpar games with 38 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and three blocks in the last two contests for St. John's, which doesn't play again until Dec. 18.

TIP-INS

1. Led by Josh Roberts and Julian Champagnie, who combine for 16 rebounds per game, the Red Storm were ranked fourth in the country at 43.8.

2. The Red Storm, who are 2-0 against the Bears, have gone 53-25 against the Ivy League.

3. The Bears are first among Ivy League schools in field goal percentage defense (30.2) and second in points allowed at 68.6.

PREDICTION: St. John's 85, Brown 66