Emotions bubbled over in the first two meetings between St. John’s and Providence. An impassioned double-digit comeback by the Friars in their first matchup, followed by a nasty squabble that led to six ejections in their second date, set the stage for another intense battle at the Big East Tournament quarterfinal between two conference mates who quickly became embittered rivals.
However, there were no fireworks or extra-curriculars in Thursday afternoon’s game, only a complete two-way performance
by St. John’s. The Red Storm led wire-to-wire in an 85-72 victory that was not as close as the final margin implied to advance to Friday night of the Big East Tournament for a third consecutive year.
Zuby Ejiofor delivered another gem of a performance befitting of this season’s Big East Player of the Year award winner, recording a triple-nickel with a team-high 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting, ten rebounds, and five assists to go along with three blocks. He is the first player in Big East Tournament history to record that stat line.
Oziyah Sellers put on a bounce-back performance, scoring 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting and 2-of-6 from deep, while playing stout defense. Rick Pitino said post-game that Sellers did “everything right, nothing wrong” on Wednesday.
Friar-turned-Johnny Bryce Hopkins could not escape the spotlight in a game like this. He drew jeers from Providence fans who made the trip down to the Garden during player introductions. His first two performances against his former school were disappointing outings, but he got the last laugh. Hopkins recorded his third triple-double of the season with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
“I tried to not make it about me,” Hopkins said about playing Providence, “The biggest thing was playing through my teammates, not doing too much, and coming out with the win.”
Unlike their first two meetings with Providence, when they surrendered double-digit leads in each game, St. John’s burst out to a fast start and didn’t lose control of the game at any point. After six straight missed baskets to open the game, the Red Storm entered an offensive flow for the rest of the first half, hitting 19-of-34 (55.8%) and 5-of-11 from three as they took a 48-27 lead at the break. In between those first half-dozen misses, the Johnnies established their physicality by pulling down five offensive rebounds on their first possession. They ultimately finished the game with a 51-30 advantage on the glass.
St. John’s lost steam on offense with a 4-of-17 start to the second half, giving Providence a narrow window to climb back into the game. Stefan Vaaks buried a deep rainbow triple while drawing the foul against Joson Sanon to cut the Red Storm’s lead down to 65-53 at the 9:49 mark, a play that was uncannily similar to the one that helped the Friars come back from down ten on January 3.
This time, St. John’s slammed that window shut, immediately going on a 10-0 run to crush any hopes of a Providence comeback.
The Red Storm (27-5) will face the winner of the quarterfinal game between Creighton and Seton Hall in the Big East Tournament semifinals on Friday, March 13. Tip-off from Madison Square Garden is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., and the game can be watched on FOX.
