St. John’s big Red Storm keeps raging, and Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden featured its largest statement yet.
Rick Pitino’s No. 10-ranked men dominated the two-time defending national champions UConn 89-75, defeating Danny Hurley’s powerhouse for the second time in 16 days. The result extended St. John’s lead atop the Big East, improving 24-4 overall and 15-2 in conference play.
“I thought we played our best game of the season,” Pitino said.
RJ Luis returned to the Red Storm lineup after missing Wednesday’s win at DePaul with a groin issue. He scored 14 points while shooting 3-of-6 from three. Kadary Richmond and Zuby Ejiofor posted game-highs with 18 points — the latter adding nine rebounds. All five of St. John’s starters recorded at least 12 points, including Aaron Scott, who contributed 13 points with nine boards.
Richmond put together a strong showing despite playing with two pulled groins, according to Pitino.
“Kadary Richmond is more injured than any player I’ve ever coached, and he fights through it,” the St. John’s head coach said. “He played the game, and he played hard. He killed it.”
The St. John’s defense was its usual stout self, forcing 18 UConn turnovers after posting 22 takeaways in their first meeting earlier this month. However, the three-point shooting stole the show as the Queens school continued its ascent as a legitimate threat from deep.
Entering Sunday having shot a paltry 29.8% from three-point range this season, St. John’s shot 42.1% from beyond the arc against UConn, including a sterling 8-of-16 start in the first half, which saw it cruise to a healthy, insurmountable advantage.
The Red Storm put a slow start, which saw UConn jump out to a 6-0 lead behind them in a flash. A 9-0 eliminated an early deficit before the trademark defense and a burgeoning three-point game took over.
St. John’s unleashed a dominant 24-6 run late in the first half to open up an 18-point lead at the break, 50-32. Eight of those points during that game-changing run came in just three seconds, beginning with 4:23 left, to snuff out any hope for UConn.
Holding a 35-26 lead, Luis hit a three-pointer while UConn’s Samson Johnson committed a flagrant foul under the basket on Ejiofor, who hit both free throws. Retaining possession, Scott sunk a corner three, making it a 17-point game at 43-26 in a blink.
The 18-point halftime deficit was the largest faced by UConn this season.
The defending champions scratched their way back through hot three-point shooting to make it a nine-point game with 12:36 to play, but St. John’s rediscovered its game to quell the comeback attempt, especially behind seven points from Richmond in a four-minute span to re-open a 16-point lead at 74-58, at the U8 timeout with 7:42 to go.
Inside five minutes remaining, the lead was back up to 19 to clinch a third straight win and its 13th victory in its last 14 games.
“I’m incredibly delighted with this victory, especially when they cut it to nine,” Pitino said. “We know what to do, and it went back the other way. I was really proud of that.”
