When No. 22 St. John’s lost its fifth game of the season to Providence, their chances of competing with No.3 UConn for first place in the Big East became less realistic. But that defeat ignited a fire under the Red Storm that hadn’t been seen all year, as they went on to win eight straight in conference play.
The Johnnies’ win streak was on the line when Dan Hurley’s Huskies arrived at a sold-out Madison Square Garden for Friday’s much-anticipated showdown. With a crowd of 19,812 fans behind them, the Red Storm rose to the occasion with Zuby Ejiofor leading the charge.
The senior big man tallied 21 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists, empowering his team to upset UConn 81-72. This win moves St. John’s into first place in the conference, with a tiebreaker over the Huskies, who had their 18-game winning streak snapped by the Johnnies.
“It’s an all-around great atmosphere to play basketball [on a] Friday night [at] MSG,” Ejiofor shared during a postgame press conference. “The moment the buzzer sounded, beating a well-coached team. I don’t remember what was done or what was said. I left it all out.”
His presence on both sides of the court was key to helping the Red Storm force 15 turnovers, which they converted into 15 points. Ejiofor gave his team a boost at the charity stripe, making all but two of his free throw attempts. The Johnnies found success at the foul line 71% of the time, missing just nine as a whole.
With Ejiofor in control, Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell provide their team captain with adequate support. The tandem of forwards combined for 29 points and 12 rebounds in over 30 minutes of action.
“They’re grown ass men. Mitchell, Hopkins [and] Zuby, they’re built for Big East games,” Hurley admitted. “Credit to St. John’s. They have real physicality.”
The size, strength, and intensity of the front court enabled Rick Pitino to execute his full-court press defense perfectly. This was used to the advantage of St. John’s, who held Alex Karaban and Silas Demary Jr. to 17 and 18 points, respectively.
“We wanted to pressure him the entire night. He’s playing great basketball, but keeping the pressure on him — that’s the key to any great defense,” Pitino explained on how he instructed his team to hone in on Demary, who scored in double figures in his last six games.
The tight defensive coverage helped the Red Storm secure its third straight victory over UConn, with two of those victories coming last season en route to capturing the Big East regular-season and tournament titles. Additionally, it is the first time they have upset a top-ranked school since taking down Duke in 2003.
When the starters needed to check out, in came Dylan Darling and Joson Sanon. Darling scored all nine of his points in the second half, as Sanon drilled two long-range shots.
“Dylan’s level of wanting to take over a game is amazing to me — it’s really amazing what he’s doing right now,” Pitino said of Darling’s performance.
The victory ties Pitino with Roy Williams of North Carolina for 903 career wins, good for fourth place on the all-time leaderboard. One more victory moves him into third behind Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski, who each have well over 1,000 career wins.
“I’m certainly going to celebrate tonight, but we’ve got Xavier. First thing in the morning, we are going to lock in on Xavier,” Pitino said, looking forward to Monday’s game.
