By SEAN BRENNAN
Special to
BIGEAST.com
As St.John’s arrived at Madison Square Garden for its BIG EAST Tournament quarterfinal battle with Butler, it did so toting a heavy load of expectations.
This is not the Johnnies teams BIG EAST fans have witnessed over the last quarter century or so. The ones that have delivered just a single title since the start of the new millennium, No, this Johnnies team came into its encounter with the feisty Bulldogs led by a Hall of Fame coach in Rick Pitino, who was just crowned conference Coach of the Year this week. They also brought along the BIG EAST Player of the Year in RJ Luis Jr. as well as the conference’s Most Improved Player in Zuby Ejiofor.
If that wasn’t enough, how about the list of accomplishments this Red Storm team posted this season? It’s rather lengthy so bear with us.
The Johnnies tied a program record with 27 regular-season victories, posted 18 conference wins to tie last year’s UConn team for most in league history, won their first BIG EAST regular season title in 40 years, are 16-1 since the calendar turned to 2025, posted a flawless 18-0 record in games played in New York City this year, the Johnnies’ first unbeaten home slate since they went 16-0 during the ….wait for it….1931-32 season, and posted four victories against Top 25 programs this season.
Their reward for so much success? Earning their first top-seed in the BIG EAST Tournament since 1986.
So yeah, expectations were sky high for Pitino’s Red Storm. And Thursday afternoon the Johnnies gave every indication that they have every intention of meeting those lofty expectations.
St. John’s got 20 points from Luis Jr. and 15 apiece from the tandem of Aaron Scott and Kadary Richmond, and the Johnnies’ stingy defense was at its best, holding the Bulldogs to just 34.5% shooting from the field, as top-seeded St. John’s rolled to a convincing 78-57 victory over Butler.
The win moves the Red Storm (28-4) into Friday night’s semifinals where they will meet the winner of No. 4 Xavier vs. No. 5 Marquette. The Johnnies swept the season series from both the Musketeers and Golden Eagles.
“Basically I told the guys that a five-plus performance is a Michael Jordan performance,” Pitino said. “And we were a four-star tonight, which was good enough to win. We did a lot of good things (and) we did a lot of things we need to get better at. But overall it was a four-star performance and we’ll take it.”
St. John’s, which never trailed at any point in the game, was in control throughout the contest. After building a 37-26 lead at the intermission the Johnnies methodically went to work putting Butler away to start the second half. After the Bulldogs (14-19) pulled within 39-31 early in the second half, St. John’s went on a 10-0 run to open an 18-point lead with 15:00 to play and it never looked back as the Johnnies’ lead grew to 23 points (74-51) with 3:13 to go.
The win now makes the Johnnies 10-0 at the Garden this year with a chance to add to that total in Friday’s semifinals. Any chance to keep playing in the BIG EAST Tournament is A-OK with Richmond.
“It’s special,” Richmond said. “Just having one more chance to play in this tournament, there’s nothing like it. It’s one of the best tournaments during Champ Week so it’s a great feeling.”
It was a dominant overall performance befitting a St.John’s team that continues to build on its magical season. Butler, which was led by Patrick McCaffery’s 16 points, arrived in the quarterfinals after knocking off Providence Wednesday night and was hoping to extend its New York stay for at least another night. Another chance to savor some New York pizza. Maybe gorge on some bagels for breakfast. But it just wasn’t in the cards for the Bulldogs. Not with the way the Red Storm came to play. Just like a top-seed should.
“It was a good four-star performance,” Pitino reiterated. “That’s all I can say.”
That was all he needed to say. The Johnnies’ performance did most of the talking anyway.