St. John's Red Storm and Northern Iowa Panthers play in the opening round of NCAA Tournament

Northern Iowa Panthers (23-12, 15-9 MVC) vs. St. John's Red Storm (28-6, 21-2 Big East)

San Diego; Friday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Red Storm -9.5; over/under is 131.5

BOTTOM LINE: No. 10 St. John's plays in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Northern Iowa.

The Red Storm have gone 21-2 against Big East teams, with a 7-4 record in non-conference play. St. John's is second in the Big East in rebounding with 34.7 rebounds. Zuby Ejiofor paces the Red Storm with 7.1 boards.

The Panthers' record in MVC action is 15-9. Northern Iowa ranks seventh in the MVC with 22.7 defensive rebounds per game led by Leon Bond III averaging 4.1.

St. John's average of 6.9 made 3-pointers per game this season is just 0.5 more made shots on average than the 6.4 per game Northern Iowa gives up. Northern Iowa averages 69.9 points per game, 0.1 fewer than the 70.0 St. John's gives up.

TOP PERFORMERS: Ejiofor is averaging 16.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.1 blocks for the Red Storm. Joson Sanon is averaging 1.6 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Trey Campbell is shooting 44.0% and averaging 13.7 points for the Panthers. Will Hornseth is averaging 13.4 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Red Storm: 9-1, averaging 74.4 points, 34.4 rebounds, 16.8 assists, 7.6 steals and 5.0 blocks per game while shooting 43.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.6 points per game.

Panthers: 7-3, averaging 75.3 points, 26.0 rebounds, 16.3 assists, 6.3 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 51.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.5 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.