The story of the Big East this season has been the job Rick Pitino has done with St. John’s basketball. The Johnnies have been the best team in the Big East all season long, comfortably securing the regular season title and working their way into the top 10 of the AP poll.
Now, Pitino and company are trying to back up their regular season title with a conference tournament title at Madison Square Garden. After a very convincing quarterfinal win over Butler on Thursday to open the proceedings, the Red Storm found themselves in a 24-9 hole in the semifinals against Marquette.
St. John’s never panicked, calmly working its way back into the gamed eventually exploding in the second half. In the end, the Red Storm ran away with a 79-63 win to advance to the championship game against Creighton on Saturday night. After the game, Pitino was ice cold as usual when discussing the comeback.
“There’s no panic in this stock market, we know what we’re doing.”@StJohnsBBall HC Rick Pitino joined @Kristina_Pink after the Red Storm advance to the Big East Tournament Championship for the first time since 2000. pic.twitter.com/Ta7Xv48wvT
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 15, 2025
“We know why we’re down and we obviously make the adjustments,” Pitino said of his St. John’s squad. “The players did a great job of moving the basketball. There’s no panic in this stock market. We know what we’re doing.”
St. John’s leaned on its big man Zuby Ejiofor on Friday. The junior finished with a career-high 33 points on 11-for-15 shooting with nine rebounds. Kadary Richmond stuffed the stat sheet as usual with 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. It speaks volumes about the depth and the talent on Pitino’s roster that it can pull away with a blowout win against an NCAA Tournament team even while Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis shoots 4-for-18.
This St. John’s basketball team will come into the title game as the favorite to win the trophy against a Creighton team that had to play later on Friday night and also went to two overtimes in the quarterfinals against DePaul. The two teams split their regular season meetings, as Creighton took home a one-point win in December and the Johnnies won by six in February at the Garden. They will decide the rubber match on Saturday night at 6 p.m. EST.
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