No. 7 St. John's beats Seton Hall to clinch first Big East title since 1985
RJ Luis Jr. scored 21 points and No. 7 St. John's beat Seton Hall 71-61 to clinch its first outright regular-season Big East title since 1985 on Saturday.
The Red Storm (26-4, 17-2) improved to 18-0 at home as they played in front of their third straight sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden and with coach Rick Pitino sporting a white suit for the second straight season.
"We're just getting started," Coach Rick Pitino says
St. John's moved the game to MSG after it was initially scheduled to be played on campus but opted not to cut down the nets to celebrate.
The players instead held the trophy and posed for pictures on the court while confetti fell from the ceiling.
Toward the end of the celebration, coach Rick Pitino declared to the excited fans: "We're just getting started."
The celebration was modest because the Red Storm are eyeing other celebrations — such as their first Big East Tournament title since 2000 and a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
"This is the answer to a prayer," said St. John's President the Rev. Brian Shanley. "This is what I hoped when we hired Rick that we would get back where we are right now – contending for a national championship. This is just the beginning in my book."
For the first time since Chris Mullin led St. John's to the Final Four when the team was nicknamed the Redmen and coached by coach Lou Carnesecca, the Red Storm are the outright regular-season champs. St. John's hadn't even won a share of the title since 1992 in the final season of Carnesecca's storied career on the sidelines.
The drought was the longest in Big East history, though several schools exited without any conference titles before spending anywhere near 33 years in the league.
This year, St. John's achieved the title in the same season Carnesecca died just a few weeks short of his 100th birthday on Nov. 30.
"We're very proud of the fact that in the year that he passed because he led a great life, we can honor him with this championship," Pitino said.
RJ Luis Jr., Zuby Ejiofor emerge as Red Storm stars
The Red Storm won the regular-season title after being picked fifth in the Big East preseason poll and adding Kadary Richmond to go along with returnees RJ Luis Jr. and Zuby Ejiofor, who emerged as stars.
"I came here to challenge myself and try to take my game to the next level and obviously try to win at the highest level, which coach Pitino knows how to do really well and trying to learn from him," Luis said. "I think it's just a surreal feeling."
After transferring from UMass, Luis averaged 10.9 in 23 games last season while dealing with shin splints. Following offseason surgery, he's a leading candidate for Big East player of the year and averaging 17.7 points.
Ejiofor backed up Joel Soriano last season and emerged as a force down low by averaging 14 points and eight rebounds as St. John's ascended to the top of the Big East. The Red Storm won 11 straight from Jan. 4 to Feb 7 in a stretch that included consecutive wins over Marquette and UConn and are 18-0 in home games.
"It was a really proud moment," Ejiofor said. "It was a testament of the work that we put in the whole season from preseason until now we all believe that we could get to this moment."
Pitino continues trend in long coaching career
Last season, the Red Storm reached the semifinals of the Big East Tournament for the first time since 2000 and saw Pitino's first season end with a 95-90 loss to UConn, which dominated opponents en route to its second straight national title.
After guaranteeing St. John's would return to natural prominence at his introductory press conference in March 2023, Pitino's first season featured a viral rant during which he lamented the team's athleticism following a loss to Seton Hall in February 2024.
Since airing his frustration, St. John's is 32-5 with the losses coming by a combined 12 points.
"In my lifetime, I never looked at that until it was written and I said, 'I better get this thing going.' Pitino said. "It is a little different than the other places I've been the second year because you have eight and nine players back and everybody understands everything you teach and the culture and the system are there."
The turnaround continued a trend in Pitino's long coaching career that also included two seasons with the New York Knicks in the early portion of Patrick Ewing's career.
At his first stop as a head coach, Boston University was 21-9 in his second season. Providence went from 17-14 to 25-9, Kentucky jumped from 14-14 to 22-6, Louisville from 19-13 to 25-7, and Iona improved from 12-6 during a pandemic-abbreviated season to 25-8.
St. John's-Seton Hall game recap
Zuby Ejiofor added 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Red Storm shot 43.4% and struggled until the final minutes.
Dylan Addae-Wusu scored 18 for Seton Hall (7-22, 2-16), which is concluding its worst season since 1982-83. Isaiah Coleman added 15 for the Pirates.
Takeaways
Seton Hall: The Pirates have been competitive of late and lost for the third straight game by 10 points or fewer.
St. John's: Free-throw shooting has been troublesome at times for St. John's and the Red Storm shot 63.6%.
Key moment
After struggling through most of the first half and taking a four-point lead, St. John's allowed Seton Hall to get within one point six times before gradually taking control. Luis converted a monstrous one-handed dunk off a Seton Hall turnover for a 59-52 lead with 6:43 left.
Key stat
The Red Storm entered averaging 11 turnovers and finished with 16.
Up next
Seton Hall hosts Creighton on Tuesday. St. John's visits Marquette on March 8.
