Saturday’s regular-season finale at Marquette provided a few reasons why Rick Pitino and St. John’s could momentarily take their foot off the gas.
Their first Big East regular-season title in 40 years was wrapped up the previous weekend and some key players like RJ Luis and Kadary Richmond are still trying to get on the other side of groin issues.
But Pitino’s message to his No. 6-nationally-ranked side was simple and rather grave.
“I said, ‘This is your one and done. You lose this game. The season’s over,'” Pitino said. “That’s the way you got to play it to prepare for March Madness. You don’t just show up in March and say, ‘Okay, this is what we’re going to do.’ You prepare for it now. You prepare for it at the Big East Tournament.”
That do-or-die attitude was fully displayed during the final moments of the Red Storm’s 86-84 overtime victory over No. 20 Marquette.
With the game tied at 84 apiece, Luis chucked up a straightaway three-pointer with six seconds to go. It hit the back rim and settled into the hands of Marquette’s Chase Ross’ hands — but only for a moment.
Kadary Richmond tipped the ball away from Ross, which was gathered by Simeon Wilcher. He made a quick, short pass across the paint to Zuby Ejiofor, who floated home the game-winner as time expired.
“Not a whole lot to say except wow,” Pitino said. “The resilience to play in front of a sold-out road game and to just never, never give up in regulation, overtime. Just keep digging in, keep digging in, making play after play. The last play of the game when Kadary tips it, Simeon makes the steal and the pass, indicative of the way the game was played… we played the terrific, pretty game, as we always do, and it’s a heck of a win, probably my favorite win of the season by far.”
It was the biggest play of a stellar night for Richmond, who became the first St. John’s player to record a triple-double since Ron Artest in 1999. In 42 minutes of play, he overcame a difficult shooting night (5-of-13) to post 10 points with 12 rebounds and 11 assists. He also added four steals.
“I’d say it just means a lot to me and my teammates,” Richmond said. “We’ve been doing historic things all season. So, this time, it’s an individual one, but I’ll give it all to them – they made big shots and made the big plays, and we got out of there with a win.”
Now comes the chance to write some more history.
With their historic outright regular-season title in tow and their highest national ranking since 1991, St. John’s is the favorite to win the Big East Tournament, which it has not won since 2000. In ESPN’s latest Bracketology, the Queens school is projected to be a No. 3 seed at the NCAA Tournament.
The next first step toward that, though, is the Big East quarterfinal, which comes on Thursday at noon ET at Madison Square Garden against the lowest-remaining seed that emerges from the first-round on Wednesday.
“The only thing I pay attention to is the next practice and the next game,” Pitino said. “I’m very grateful for the type of team I have, but maybe sometime in June or July, I’ll just be on the beach and be very thankful for the season. Right now, I’m just laser-focused on the next Big East game, the next practice. I’m not patting myself on the back.”
