Do you know the last time Pitt won a game against St. John’s in NYC? March of 1995 in the Big East Tournament. Pitt has since dropped 5 straight either at Carnesecca Arena or Madison Square Garden. Pitt was 3-8 against St. John’s over this period, though winning 3 of the last 4. Including the BET, Pitt is 5-18 versus St. John’s in NYC (4-16 regular season). It is the worst away record for Pitt against any of the Big East foes (and believe me the away records against Georgetown, Syracuse, UConn and Villanova are nothing to create a particularly prideful feeling).

One of the big things for St. John’s is that they will be retiring the numbers of 8 of their greats and hanging them from the rafters along with banners honoring two of their coaches at Carnesecca Arena in a private ceremony Friday night. They are calling it “Basketball Legacy Honors.”

Joe Lapchick who preceded Lou Carnesecca, and for whom Carnesecca was an assistant is the other coach to be honored. The players are: Walter Berry, Lloyd “Sonny” Dove, Mark Jackson, Tony Jackson, Dick McGuire, Chris Mullin, Malik Sealy and Alan Seiden. Before this, St. John’s had never retired any numbers. The honorees will be acknowledged at halftime of the game on Saturday.

Useless information. This season, Pitt is 2-0 when there are player honors bestowed (home against ND and at South Carolina).

It’s a big deal for Pitt to play St. John’s. As is well known and expected to be hammered home by the announcers, Pitt has a ton of players from the NY/NJ area. Arguably that may play into why they have struggled so at St. John’s. Too many of the kids press and are distracted by seeing family. At least that’s the theory.

Pitt has its game notes (PDF) for the Noon start.