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| Kadary Richmond driving to the hoop. @StJohnsBball. |
The St. John's Red Storm clinched a share of the Big East regular season championship, its first since the 1991-92 season, with a road win at Butler, 76-70, on Wednesday night.
St. John's is now 25-4 overall, with a record of 16-2 in Big East play. The 16 conference wins is now a school record, surpassing the 15 from the 1984-85 season, one in which they went to the Final Four. This is the first time they have won 25 games since the following year, 1985-86.
On Saturday, St. John's can clinch the title outright when they host Seton Hall at Madison Square Garden, with tip-off at 2:15 p.m.
Prior to this, St. John's has won the Big East Regular Season title five times, all with Lou Carnesecca at the helm, in 1980, '83, '85, '86, and '92.
Head Coach Rick Pitino, in his second season with the Red Storm, has now earned 13 conference titles in his 37 seasons as a Division I Head Coach. He is the first coach to lead five different schools to a regular season championship - Boston University, Kentucky, Louisville, Iona, St. John’s - with four of those coming in his second year at the helm.
RJ Luis Jr. led St. John's with 24 points on 9-16 shooting, including 3-6 from behind the arc, with four rebounds, two steals, and an assist.
Kadary Richmond had 13 points (4-8 FG), six rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Zuby Ejiofor had 12 points (5-8 FG), four rebounds, and three assists.
The Red Storm led this one 38-32 at halftime, after they shot 53.1 percent, or 17-32, from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
Butler came out firing in the second half, as they pulled within point, at 45-44, a few minutes in, and eventually took a one-point edge, 57-56, on a Kolby King free throw with 7:38 remaining.
The Red Storm responded with an 8-2 run, capped by a fast break from Luis at the 5:26 mark that made it 64-59.
Butler pulled back within two, at 66-64, on a King three-pointer with 2:15 left, and Luis responded by burying a pair of free throws.
Then, after Patrick McCaffrey hit a pair of free throws with 1:29 left, Ejiofor got a second-chance layup with exactly 1:00 left to make it 70-66 St. John's, and put the game away.
PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game:
On what makes Butler such a difficult matchup: “Teams like Villanova and Butler hurt us with their styles of going one-on-one on straight-line drives. We have been a better defensive team going against teams that run a lot of motion. ... Certainly, we didn't play our best game, but late in the game, we made all the right plays to win the game, and all that counts is winning the game. Make your adjustments from the film and get ready for the next game.”
On clinching a share of the regular season title tonight: “I just told the guys, ‘We didn't come here to share anything.’ We have our goals. We came to win this thing. We said it weeks ago and it's in our hands right now. We have two games to win it and we'll see what happens.”
On what his expectations for Saturday are: “Just like it's been: sold out. Already have 17,000 tickets out. We get to sell out Madison Square Garden; our fans have been great. There won't be a whole lot of celebration. We'll celebrate, certainly, if we can do it on Saturday, but we have to get ready for Marquette.”
On the way the team closed the game tonight: “With four minutes to go in the game, I just watched the last four minutes, they did everything correct with the exception of giving up a corner three coming off the strong side. Everything else was perfect.”
On grinding out a win in a tough environment: “You're not going to play a Connecticut-type game every night, especially off one day prep. The guys dug deep, like they have all year, won the game in a very hostile environment. You have to give the guys a tremendous amount of credit for making the right plays with the game on the line and that's what counts.”
On his team’s ability to grind out wins: “They've done it the whole year. This is a tough place to play. [Butler] was playing great at home. They won four out of five games. They beat Seton Hall by like 30. They were playing terrific basketball. They've got great one-on-one talent. They shoot the three as well. So, we're very pleased with the victory. We just made some mental mistakes defensively that we don't normally make.”
On tonight’s emphasis on attacking the basket: “They play drop coverage, so you can get downhill, but you got to have the right spacing. We did a lot of good things early in the game by making our mid-range game. We're a very good mid-range shooting team.”
On this season as a whole: “I'm really, really proud of the guys. Really happy for them. I'm really proud of the fans that packed Madison Square Garden, happy for the student body. I'm really happy for our student body because they've gotten behind the team in heavy numbers. So, to me, to see the students there, to see the subway alumni there, the alumni, they're packing Madison Square Garden. They'll pack it four or five times in a row. Madison Square Garden is 19,800 people. Last year, we had an average of 12,000.”
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