Basketball
All of a sudden, the Big East is up for grabs.
St. John’s made a loud statement Friday night that it belongs in the same conversation with Connecticut, that the powerhouse Huskies are not in a weight class of their own.
This version of the Red Storm, the one that has gone from an early-season disappointment to a March contender over the last five weeks in winning nine straight games, proved it is for real at a raucous and sold-out Garden.
The previous eight wins in this streak were impressive. Friday night was different. This one, an 81-72 victory over No. 3 Connecticut, belongs in its own category. It was the best regular-season win of the Rick Pitino era, St. John’s first victory over a top-three team since 2021.
“We made a lot of big plays tonight, and I’m proud of our guys for not panicking one bit at any point in the game,” Pitino said after snapping the Huskies’ 18-game winning streak.
They closed out UConn by locking them down on the defensive end, getting big plays from Dylan Darling, Zuby Ejiofor and Dillon Mitchell and now have an elite win to go atop their NCAA Tournament résumé.
Over the final 4:46, No. 22 St. John’s outscored Connecticut 15-7, and handed Dan Hurley’s team its first loss at full strength this season.
Early in the year, the Johnnies failed to finish against top nonconference opponents like Iowa State and Alabama. Clearly, this group has come a long way since then.
“As hard a game as we’ve had to play all year,” said Hurley, whose Huskies have faced three teams ranked in the top 11 of the country in Arizona, Illinois and Kansas.
St. John’s (18-5, 11-1) led by as many as 11 points in the second half, but it got tight late, UConn (22-2, 12-1) ripping off a 16-5 run to pull within a point. The Red Storm didn’t flinch.
“I used the expression, ‘no fear of failure.’ I said it every single timeout,” Pitino said. “ ‘Whether we go up 12, they cut it to two, we have no fear, we’re going to win this game.’ ”
Ejiofor grabbed the offensive rebound of a Bryce Hopkins miss and set up Mitchell for a layup. On the next possession, Darling hit a stepback 3-pointer, then found Ejiofor in the lane for a jump hook. The lead was seven with 2:27 remaining, and the Huskies really didn’t threaten again.
At the final horn, a euphoric Ejiofor celebrated with the St. John’s student section.
“We had more of a home crowd than we thought. Everybody from top to bottom was really engaged,” he said. “The moment when the buzzer sounded, it was over and you realized you beat a really well-coached team, all the emotion came out. I just let it all out.”
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Ejiofor was by far the best player on the floor, finishing with an absurd line of 21 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and two steals. Mitchell followed with 15 points and six rebounds and Bryce Hopkins added 14 points and six rebounds. Darling added nine points and two assists, all after halftime.
Silas Demary Jr. had 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists to lead the Huskies but also committed nine turnovers. A year ago, as a guard for Georgia, Demary committed 10 turnovers in a win over St. John’s in The Bahamas.
“He played well, it’s just that we wanted to pressure him the entire night, just fatigue him,” Pitino said. “That’s the key to any good defense, just keeping pressure on them.”
On Thursday, Hurley talked about the importance of the Huskies limiting their turnovers and holding their own on the glass. Those two areas proved critical for St. John’s, who had 16 second-chance points and turned 15 turnovers into 20 points. The big frontcourt of Ejiofor, Mitchell and Hopkins at times overwhelmed the Huskies, especially when they went small.
“They’re grown-ass men,” Hurley said.
St. John’s started the second half well, outscoring Connecticut 16-6 to go up by 10 with 12:46 remaining. Hurley used two timeouts to try to stop the run. Hopkins’ 3-pointer pushed the lead into double digits for the first time and it sounded like the top was going to come off the Garden.
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The Huskies responded with back-to-back baskets as the shot clock expired, and Ejiofor sank a 3-pointer, pushing the lead back to nine.
St. John’s had an answer for every Connecticut run. In crunch time, they left no doubt. Afterwards, everyone was smiling.
“Curfew,” Pitino told Ejiofor and Mitchell as they left the press conference, “at 5 a.m.”
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