Rick Pitino Leads St. John’s To First Big East Tournament Championship Game Since 2000

Around 9:30 on Friday night, the last two St. John’s players to win the Big East Player of the Year met each other in the locker room at Madison Square Garden. Walter Berry, who won the award in 1986, was looking for RJ Luis Jr., this year’s recipient. It was hard to determine who was more star struck.

“This is the guy right here,” Luis said.

“No, you the man,” Berry said.

“No, that’s you,” Luis said. “That’s you. Appreciate you.”

“We’re gonna talk tomorrow, baby,” Berry said. “Alright? Good meeting you, man.”

“I appreciate it,” Berry said “Take care.”

That conversation following the Red Storm’s 79-63 victory over Marquette in the Big East tournament semifinals continued a surreal season for a program steeped in tradition but accustomed to heartbreak in recent years. St. John’s advanced to the Big East final for the first time since 2000. On Saturday night, the No. 1 seed Red Storm will face No. 2 seed Creighton, which defeated No. 3 seed Connecticut, 71-62, in the other semifinal late Friday night.

At the start, it didn’t look like it was St. John’s night. Just over seven minutes into the game, Marquette led, 24-9, silencing the pro-Red Storm crowd. But the Red Storm went on a 9-0 run over the next 90 seconds and kept coming, taking the lead for good early in the second half. It was the seventh time this season St. John’s overcame a double-digit deficit.

“There’s no panic in this stock market,” St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said. “These guys don’t panic.”

Zuby Ejiofor led St. John’s with 33 points, setting a program record in a Big East tournament game. One day after Ejiofor scored just 4 points in the quarterfinals against Butler, he spearheaded the Red Storm’s second half rally, scoring 23 points on 7-of-8 field goals and 9-of-9 free throws in the final 20 minutes.

Ejiofor also had 9 rebounds and became the first Red Storm player since Berry in 1986 to score at least 30 points and 9 rebounds in a game.

“I’m coaching 50 years, and there are very few Zubys that come along that just think about the team,” Pitino said. “Whether he scores 33 or 3, it’s all about the team.”

Afterward, Pitino referred to his team’s performance as a 5 or 5-minus on a 5-point scale, up from a 4 in Thursday’s win over Butler. He mentioned the Red Storm “almost” had a perfect 5 score and referred to Michael Jordan as the gold standard with a 5-plus.

“We were brilliant at all phases of the game,” Pitino said.

Perhaps Pitino was being a bit hyperbolic, as the Red Storm only made 41.8% of their field goals, including 5-of-18 3-pointers (27.8%). But St. John’s has been excelling all season despite their mediocre shooting statistics. And that’s thanks to its relentless defense.

The Red Storm held Marquette to 39% shooting and 20.7% on 3’s, including 1 of 12 in the second half. They also forced the Golden Eagles to just 6 assists and forced 18 turnovers.

St. John’s ranks first in analyst Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric.

“They’ve had an awesome season,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “They remind me a lot of Houston, just the rebounding, the defense, the physicality.”

St. John’s won its eighth consecutive game and 18 of its past 19. The Red Storm have already won their first Big East regular season title, and they will be looking for their first conference tournament championship in 25 years against a talented Creighton squad. The teams split their two regular season games, with Creighton winning, 57-56, on New Year’s Eve and St. John’s winning, 79-73, on Feb. 16 at Madison Square Garden.

The Red Storm are 11-0 at MSG this season and have captivated the city, drawing sell-out crowds. There will be another captive audience on Saturday night.

“Me and the entire team, we really just fed off the energy of the crowd today, especially when they were chanting my name at the end of the game,” Ejiofor said. “I couldn’t control myself. I had to keep it in a little bit. But we’re staying level-headed because we know that we’ve still got a goal to accomplish.”