Walk out of Madison Square Garden after a St. John’s game right now and you can feel it in the air: the Big East has some juice again. A month ago, that same building felt like a wake for Red Storm basketball after a flat loss to Providence left Rick Pitino swapping his usual suit for sweats and hard questions.
Then something very un‑Big‑East‑Twitter happened: instead of imploding, St. John’s quietly went to work. Since that Providence loss, the Red Storm have ripped off 10 straight wins, climbed back into the AP Top 25 at No. 17, and, yes, walked into a game against then‑No. 3 UConn and snapped the Huskies’ 18‑game winning streak.
The turning point was Pitino’s decision to rework his frontcourt and fully unleash Dillon Mitchell alongside Zuby Ejiofor. Mitchell arrived in Queens with more stamps in his portal passport than most of us have in our actual ones: Texas, then Cincinnati, now St. John’s.
What makes this Red Storm group intriguing is how the frontcourt doesn’t just protect the rim; it defines the entire offensive identity. Bryce Hopkins, the former All‑Big‑East forward who lost last season to a torn ACL, has slowly worked his way back into form.
From a numbers standpoint, the change is stark. Since that early‑January low point, St. John’s sits top‑20 nationally in offensive efficiency, pairing a suddenly potent attack with the kind of disruptive defense that has long been Pitino’s signature.
Of course, none of this means St. John’s is suddenly the team to beat in a bracket that still has UConn, Purdue, and a half‑dozen other heavyweights lurking. The guard play can still wobble, the perimeter shooting is streaky, and in March, one bad matchup against a veteran backcourt can erase a month’s worth of good vibes in two hours.
In a stunning display of dominance, St. John’s recently captured the Big East Tournament title, defeating UConn 72-52 in a wire-to-wire victory. This marks the Red Storm's second consecutive tournament title, a feat not achieved since 1985-86.
Zuby Ejiofor, the Big East Player of the Year, was instrumental in this victory, scoring 18 points and setting a tournament record with seven blocked shots. His defensive prowess allowed St. John’s to stifle UConn’s offense, forcing 17 turnovers and converting them into 24 points.
Despite UConn's national success under Dan Hurley, including two national championships, St. John’s has dominated the conference level under Pitino, securing back-to-back regular season and tournament titles. The Red Storm's recent success has elevated their NCAA Tournament seeding prospects, potentially moving them up to a 3-seed.
For St. John’s, the next step is to translate their conference dominance into a deep NCAA Tournament run, aiming to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999. If Mitchell, Hopkins, and Ejiofor continue their stellar play, the Red Storm could be a formidable opponent in March Madness.
The Big East Tournament title game is set for Saturday, with No. 1 seed St. John's facing No. 2 seed UConn at 6:30 p.m. St. John's advanced to the title game after defeating No. 4 seed Seton Hall 78-68 in the semifinals, while UConn secured their spot with a 67-51 win over No. 11 seed Georgetown.