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          New York Colleges

          W2W4: St. John's vs. Longwood

          • Kieran Darcy, ESPN Staff WriterNov 26, 2013, 03:59 PM
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              Kieran Darcy is an ESPN.com staff writer. He joined ESPN in August 2000 after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, where he played four years of JV basketball.
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          Here are three things to watch for when St. John's (3-1) hosts Longwood (2-3) on Tuesday night at Carnesecca Arena.

          Tip-off is at 7 p.m., and you can watch the game on Fox Sports 1.

          Reinstated: St. John's freshman guard Rysheed Jordan was suspended for the team's last game for an unspecified violation of team rules. Jordan has been reinstated for the game against Longwood -- but will he start, and how many minutes will he get?

          Jordan started the first three games of the season but averaged just 4.3 points in 18.3 minutes per game, shooting 22.7 percent from the field.

          Coach Steve Lavin predicted Jordan, ranked the No. 17 high school senior in the country by ESPN Recruiting last year, would be a key contributor to the Red Storm this season. Thus far, he's been very underwhelming.

          Room for improvement: St. John's has won three games in a row after losing its regular-season opener to Wisconsin (currently ranked No. 10 in the country). But Lavin was far from pleased with his team's last performance, despite defeating Monmouth 64-54.

          "I thought defensively we were awful tonight," Lavin said bluntly.

          Let's see if they ratchet up the defensive intensity against Longwood. The bright spot on D against Monmouth? St. John's tied a school record with 15 blocked shots, including nine by sophomore center Chris Obekpa. The Red Storm are ranked second in the country, averaging 10.3 blocked shots per game. Obekpa is ranked second individually, averaging 5.3.

          The Lancers: Longwood was picked to finish last in the North Division of the Big South in the conference's preseason poll of coaches and media. They are coming off back-to-back losses to Brown (by 12) and Penn State (by 26), but did win at TCU, 82-79, on Nov. 12.

          The Lancers are led by 6-foot-4 senior guard Tristan Carey, who is averaging 18.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, shooting 38.6 percent from 3-point range. Carey poured in 31 points against TCU, including shooting 7-for-12 from beyond the arc.

          Longwood is giving up 81 points per game, and is one of the poorest rebounding teams in the country -- ranked No. 341 out of 351 Division I teams, averaging just 29.2 boards per game.