St. John's Stakes Their Claim Against UConn

 

Zuby Ejiofor slamming home a dunk early in the second half. Photo by Jason Schott.

The St. John's Red Storm made a massive statement in terms of their chances to repeat as Big East Champions on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, as they defeated the Connecticut Huskies, 81-72.

This was St. John's ninth straight win, and they are now 18-5, including 11-1 in Big East Conference play. 

UConn suffered their first loss in Big East play, and they are now 12-1, just a half-game ahead of St. John's, while their overall record is 22-2.

St. John's entered this game No. 22 in the country, and because UConn was No. 3 in the national rankings, it would be reasonable to think the Red Storm could climb as high as No. 15 in the AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches' Poll on Monday. 

This was St. John's highest ranked win at Madison Square Garden since it beat No. 3 Duke on January 30, 2011. That was a memorable game because it was Steve Lavin's debut season as coach, and that started a run in which they earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament. It's also a reminder of when they used to play Duke every year.

St. John's has now beaten UConn three straight times, after they swept the season series against them last season, the longest streak against the Huskies since the 1999-2000 season. Interestingly, that streak, like this one, began when UConn was defending national champions. 

It also was another historic win for St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino, who has tied Roy Williams for third all-time with 903 career victories in NCAA Division 1. 

This was started out differently than one would expect, with St. John's seeking a statement win, as they trailed 16-10 six minutes in.

At that point, Pitino called a timeout, and halted UConn's momentum in its tracks.

Zuby Ejiofor made a hook shot, and then St. John's forced a turnover, and he drained a pair of free throws before Joson Sanon buried a three-pointer at 12:23 of the first half, capping a quick 7-0 run over just 1:27 of action.

St. John's eventually led by six points, 23-17, at the 10:10 mark on another pair of Zuby free throws before Connecticut reeled off a 9-2 run to take a one-point lead. The rest of the first half was neck-neck, and fittingly the teams entered halftime tied at 39.

The game was tied at 45 three minutes into the second half, and a Dillon Mitchell free throw at 16:48 began a 10-0 run for the Red Storm capped by a Bryce Hopkins three-pointer at 13:03 that made it 55-45.

It was a frenzy at The Garden when St. John's opened up a 55-45 lead. Photo by Jason Schott.

Connecticut took a timeout then, and just like Pitino's well-timed one in the first half, it reset the game, and eventually UConn would pull to within a point, at 64-63, when Silas Demary Jr. buried a three-pointer with 5:35 remaining.

Dylan Darling then got to the free throw line, where he buried a pair to put the Red Storm back up three, and then after DeMary drained a basket, Ejiofor only made one of two at the line to make it 67-65 with 4:26 left.

UConn finally had a window to tie or take the lead, and Alex Karaban took it to the hoop, but his shot, more like a fling, rimmed out, and Hopkins snatched the rebound, and was fouled.

Hopkins missed the first of a one-and-one, but Ejiofor grabbed the offensive rebounds and found Dillon Mitchell, who laid it in at 3:57 to make it 69-65.

Karaban responded by making a layup this time, after he nabbed an offensive rebound, so it was back to two, at 69-67, with 3:39 left.

Then, Darling, who by this point it seemed was out there all half after playing just 5:04 in the first half - buried a three-pointer to make it a five-point game, at 72-67, and make it feel realistic St. John's could pull this off.

After a Sanon steal, Darling found Ejiofor for a basket to make it 74-67, and UConn was only able to pull as close as four the rest of the way.

It became apparent St. John's would win when Hopkins made a free throw with 57 seconds left that made it 77-72, and DeMary made an inbounds pass that Oziyah Sellers stole with ease at the 53-second mark, and St. John's would score the final four points of the game.

The scene when it was clear St. John's would win after the Sellers steal in the final minute. Photo by Jason Schott.

Darling played 15:39 of the second half, no doubt the key move by Pitino to win this game. He scored all nine of his points in the second half, as he shot 3-4 overall, including 1-2 on three-pointers, with two assists, a steal, and a +12 mark, meaning St. John's scored that many more points than UConn when he was on the floor. No doubt that is because of his tenacious defense, virtually all over whoever he was covering, and noteworthy is the fact St. John's was playing man-to-man all night.

St. John's shot a superb (to put it mildly) 60.9 percent in the second half, as they shot 14-23 front he field, and put up 42 points. 

UConn was held to 51.9 %, or 14-27, in the final 20 minutes, down from the 57.7 % (15-26) clip in the first half. For the game, they came in at 54.7 percent, or 26-53, from the field, including 47.4 %, or 9-19, on three-pointers, and still lost by nine points.

Ejiofor led the way for St. John's, as he had 21 points, or 6-10, from the field, including making his one three-point attempt, and was 8-10 from the free-throw line. He hauled in 10 rebounds to give him a double-double, and also had seven assists and two steals, and a +20 mark.

Dillon Mitchell had 15 points (7-9 FG), six rebounds, two assists, and a steal, while Bryce Hopkins had 14 points (4-7 FG), six rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Interesting on both of them to note it that their output was pretty balanced for each half, with Mitchell having eight points in the first half, seven in the second, while Hopkins had six points in the first, eight in the second.

Connecticut was led by Silas Demary Jr., who had 18 points on 7-11 from the field, including 1-2 on threes, with rebounds, five assists, and a steal, but he committed an unsightly nine turnovers. Alex Karaban had 17 points (7-10 FG, 3-4 threes), three rebounds, and three assists.

PITINO POSTGAME: St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino addressed the media after the game, and he opened with this statement: "I thought The Garden was as good as I've seen it. When I was at Louisville, Big East Tournaments, I thought it was unbelievable how good The Garden was (tonight)...Tremendous crowd. Proud of our fans, excited for our fans. These two guys (Mitchell and Ejiofor) just give me everything every single day, everything. People don't realize I've had great players that sometimes they give it to you in practice, sometimes they don't, and I'm not going to mention any names. But these two guys give it to me every single day. (Zuby) has given it to me for three years and it's an amazing tribute to both of them that they played so great tonight."

On his team's character and composure throughout the game: "Well, I use the expression, no fear of failure. I said it every single time out. I said, 'whether we go up twelve, they cut it to two, we have no fear. We're going to win this game.'...Every single player was honed in. They did a fabulous job of doing things down the stretch to help you win."

On the confidence gained from tonight: "We're really going to just hone in and focus in on our next opponent, because they're as great as any team in this league, and you can't take any team in this league for granted. When UConn comes again, we'll be ready for them, but we just got to put all our focus in on Xavier right at this moment."

NEXT UP FOR ST. JOHN'S: Father vs. son, Rick Pitino vs. Richard Pitino, St. John's vs. Xavier. Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Madison Square Garden.