Rick Pitino’s Red Storm revival has entered uncharted territory.
For the first time in program history, St. John’s are back-to-back Big East Tournament champions. Also, the Red Storm became the first Big East team to win both the outright Big East regular season and tournament titles in two straight seasons.
The Johnnies outplayed UConn in all facets in their 72-52 blowout during Saturday night’s championship game, culminating a dominant title defense in which they led in 118 of their 120 minutes played in this
year’s Big East Tournament.
In his final game at Madison Square Garden, Zuby Ejiofor made his Mecca curtain call unforgettable. The Red Storm’s senior star led his team with 18 points, nine rebounds, and became the first player in Big East championship game history to record seven blocks. For his efforts over these last three days, Ejiofor added another trophy to his growing collection, winning the Big East Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after averaging 19.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.0 rejections, and 3.0 assists this week.
Bryce Hopkins continued to play with newfound aggression, matching Ejiofor with 18 points (7-of-9 shooting) and five rebounds, scoring ten of those points in the second half as the game slowed down for the Johnnies.
Following a trend from their previous two Big East Tournament games, St. John’s jumped all over their opponents from the opening tip-off. The Red Storm took an early 10-0 lead and didn’t look back, never allowing their lead to shrink within seven points for the remainder of the contest.
In a twist of fate from their last ill-fated meeting, St. John’s played suffocating defense on UConn. The Huskies were held to 33.9% shooting (19-of-56) and couldn’t buy a basket from long range, only hitting 3-of-19 from three. That frustration boiled over for Dan Hurley, who received a technical foul at the 12:34 mark after arguing about a no-call against Silas Demary, Jr.
St. John’s’ first-half advantage ballooned to as much as 17 points when Dylan Darling mailed a lob pass to Dillon Mitchell for a ferocious alley-oop dunk, and they eventually took a 40-27 lead into halftime.
The Red Storm were off to another strong start to a half, building their lead to 18 points in the first two minutes out of the break. However, the Johnnies appeared to fade over the next 6:03 when they allowed a 13-2 run to the Huskies, cutting their lead down to 49-42 following a Tarris Reed bucket with 12:34 remaining and forcing Rick Pitino to use a timeout.
Pitino’s decision to call for time ended up being a pivotal one. Ejiofor hit a massive three-pointer to push St. John’s lead back to double-digits once play resumed. The Red Storm then outscored the Huskies by a total of 23-10 following the timeout, forcing the Huskies to miss their last 13 shot attempts. Dylan Darling put behind a forgettable 1-of-6 first-half shooting performance, scoring six huge points during a 13-0 run that stuck a fork in this game.
By winning the Big East Tournament, St. John’s clinched the auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament for a second straight year, marking the first time they will record consecutive trips to the Big Dance since 1999 and 2000.
The Red Storm (28-6) await to see who they will face in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament in Sunday night’s Selection Show (6 p.m., CBS).
