Big East Semis: St. John’s & Zuby Zoom By Marquette

 

Zuby Ejiofor taking one to the hoop to give St. John’s a 35-33 lead late in the first half. Photo by Jason Schott.

The St. John’s Red Storm continue to keep finding new levels to take their game, and they did that on Friday night as they rolled to a 79-63 win over Marquette in the Big East Tournament Semifinals.

The top-seeded Red Storm will take on the No. 2 seed Creighton Blue Jays, who beat the two-time defending National Champion and winner of last year's Big East Tournament, the Connecticut Huskies, 71-62, in the late game on Friday night.

It will be the 11th time in the 45-year history of the Big East Conference that the top two seeds will square off in the championship game.

St. John's will be appearing in their first Big East Tournament Final since 2000, which they won over UConn, 80-70. 

Creighton has won 12 conference tournament championships, all of which were in the Missouri Valley Conference, including in 2012 and '13, their last two seasons there before joining the Big East.

This will be the second time that St. John's and Creighton will meet in the Big East Tournament, and no doubt Saturday night will be under far more felicitous circumstances. The first meeting occurred on March 12, 2020, and the game was called at the half, with St. John's ahead, as sports shut down due to the pandemic.

St. John’s now has an overall record of 29-4 on the season. Creighton is one of the few teams that has beaten St. John’s this season, as they beat them 57-56 in Omaha on New Year’s Eve. St. John’s won their other meeting, 79-73, at Madison Square Garden on February 16.

Like most of their games this season, St. John’s withstood an opponent throwing the house early, which Marquette did, as they raced out to a 24-9 lead. 

An Aaron Scott three-pointer at the 12:27 mark of the first half started a 13-3 St. John’s run. 

The Red Storm pulled within one, at 29-28, on an RJ Luis Jr. dunk at 6:45. They eventually tied it at 33 on a Zuby Ejiofor tip-in at the 2:33 mark that capped, yes a 24-9 run of their own.

Ejiofor put them ahead, 35-33, on a layup at 1:27, but Marquette clung to a 37-35 lead at halftime.

In the second half, Luis Jr. broke a 44-44 tie with a layup at the 16:23 matchup, and they never looked back. 

That started a 7-1 Red Storm run over the next minute, capped by an Aaron Scott three-pointer that made it 51-45.

The celebration for Aaron Scott's three-pointer that made it 51-45 St. John's spilled out into the center of the court. Photo by Jason Schott.

That lead would build to 10 points, at 57-47 - a 13-3 stretch - on an Ejiofor layup with 12:42 left. 

Marquette would cut it to four points over the next three minutes, but that would be the last time St. John’s was somewhat tested.

St. John’s responded with a 7-0 run that restored their 10-point lead, 64-54, and eventually they would go up 19 points, 77-58, with 3:04 left, essentially putting the game away.

Zuby Ejiofor led the way for St. John’s with 33 points - 23 in the second half - on an astonishing 11-15 shooting, and a near-perfect 11-12 from the free throw line, with nine rebounds, three assists, and a steal.

RJ Luis Jr. had 13 points (4-18 FG, 5-7 FT), seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Kadary Richmond had a double-double with 12 points (5-10 FG) and 10 rebounds, with six assists and three steals. Aaron Scott had 11 points (4-8 FG), and was 3-8 from behind the arc, with four rebounds, one assist, and a steal.

Marquette was ked by Kam Jones, who had 24 points - 10 of which were in the opening five minutes of the game - on 10-22 shooting, including 3-12 on three-pointers, with seven rebounds and two assists.

Overall, St. John’s outscored Marquette 44-26 in the second half. They shot 45.5 percent, of 15-33, from the field, while holding Marquette to 34.5 percent, or a measly 10-29.

The scene when St. John's made it 70-56 and the outpouring of support was palpable. Photo by Jason Schott.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: “Tonight, what I said after the game, there's no panic in this stock market. These guys don't panic. Down, they dig in, they play hard. That's a very good Marquette team. We were almost the perfect five tonight. Michael Jordan is a five-plus now, so understand that. But we were like a five, five-minus tonight. We were brilliant at all phases of the game. This guy [Aaron Scott], with a bad thumb at the end of the game, got every loose ball. The big dog over here [Zuby Ejiofor] just was tremendous. Last night, he got a little frustrated because he didn't get the ball much, and tonight, he just showed unbelievable leadership every time out. I don't know what was better, his play or his leadership tonight. They were both pretty extraordinary. These two guys are what St. John's basketball should be about. It's all about the team. They're all about each other and I'm really proud of them. This was a brilliant night for us and now we're in the championship game.”

On Zuby Ejiofor: “When Zuby came in, I put him through a hard player development session. First thing I noticed is he never complained about the drills. He went through it. Then he shot the ball really well. I said to his dad, ‘I got myself a hell of a player here.’ He said, ‘I've been telling everybody Zuby can shoot.’ I said, ‘Well, Zuby can do a lot of things.’ But every coach wants to have a player like him: selfless, just cares about the team. You get blessed in coaching him. I've been coaching 50 years, and there are very few Zubys that come along that just think about the team. Whether he scores 33 or 3, it's all about the team. Every timeout he's saying something positive to the guys. We're lucky. We got him back again and we're lucky to have him. He's our captain.”

On Zuby Ejiofor’s defense: “Yeah, Zuby is getting better. We talked about his stance all day. He's getting better and better defensively. The good thing about him is he's had so much more growth. By the end of the summer, I want him to be a knock-down shooter, play some power forward as well. He has the ability because he has a very good-looking shot. He's improved his passing.”

On the team’s defensive and offensive efforts tonight: “Tonight, when you look at it, they're a really good team. They have six assists and 17 turnovers to our 17 assists and 11 turnovers. That's huge. We did a terrific job of switching, matching up. Our coaches did a fabulous job of preparing with very little time. They paid us strict attention. I'm most proud that they all got Zuby [Ejiofor] the ball. We ran some plays where they thought they would play behind him, and he got the ball, but they got him the ball. Kadary [Richmond] is very good at that. The whole team is very good at that. He made some great loose ball situations with a really sore thumb at the end of the game. Just dug in. Awesome, awesome young men.”

On coaching this year’s team: “I tell you, people keep saying to me, what about this year? What about this year is I've been so blessed to have such nice young men that I'm coaching. That, to me, is worth more than anything else. I'm very, very lucky."