No. 10/9 St. John’s Throttles RV/RV Connecticut, 89-75, at MSG

Sunday, February 23

New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden)

12 p.m.

St. John's University

24-4,15-2Big East

RV/ RV UConn

18-9,10-6Big East

UConn

St. John's (NY)

No. 10/9 St. John’s Throttles RV/RV Connecticut, 89-75, at MSG

2/23/2025 4:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Red Storm men’s basketball team matches a program record earning its 15th BIG EAST win on Sunday at The World’s Most Famous Arena

NEW YORK – The No. 10/9 St. John's men's basketball team (24-4, 15-2 BIG EAST) matched a program record with its 15^th BIG EAST victory on Sunday, earning an 89-75 triumph over Connecticut (18-9, 10-6 BIG EAST) before a sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden.

The Johnnies buried all eight of their 3-pointers in the opening half to help take an 18-point advantage into halftime. St. John's led by as many as 22 points in the second half and did not let its lead dip below nine en route to the Red Storm's 19^thconsecutive regular-season home victory dating back to last season.

St. John's matched the 1984-85 team with a program record 15 BIG EAST wins in a single season. Additionally, the Johnnies completed a sweep of the Huskies for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign. The Red Storm has now won 10 consecutive regular season contests at Madison Square Garden, which marks the program's second longest winning streak inside the iconic venue in program history.

All five St. John's starters finished in double-figures, tallied a block and a steal during Sunday's win. The Red Storm forced 18 turnovers with 11 steals and matched a season-high 11 blocks. The Johnnies also shot over 40 percent (8-19 3FG) from 3-point land for the second straight game and made 21 of 27 attempts (77.8 pct) from the charity stripe.

Zuby Ejiofor dominated inside tallying 18 points, including an 8-of-9 shooting effort from the free throw line, to go with nine rebounds, a career-high six assists and three blocks. Kadary Richmond also totaled 18 points and has now finished with 17 or more points in each of his last four games.

St. John's senior guard Deivon Smith stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, a game-high eight assists and seven boards. Aaron Scott tallied 13 points on three made 3-pointers and eight rebounds. RJ Luis Jr. was the fifth and final Johnnie in double-figures, tacking on 14 points on Sunday at The World's Most Famous Arena.

Connecticut was led by Alex Karaban who finished with 17 points. Huskies' star freshman Liam McNeeley was held to a 2-for-14 shooting performance from the field and went 0-for-6 from distance. The 6-foot-7 forward, who entered the game averaging a team-high 15.4 points, scored 10 of his 14 points at the free-throw line.

After UConn jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead, the Red Storm got rolling with back-to-back 3-pointers on consecutive possessions from Luis and Smith. The Johnnies then forced four Connecticut turnovers over a 2:33 stretch to fuel a 9-0 scoring run that was finished off by a three-point play from Scott to take its first lead of the afternoon, 15-11.

The Huskies managed to grab the lead back, 20-19, but the Red Storm answered with an 11-0 run that featured triples from Scott, Lefteris Liotopoulos and Smith to send St. John's up double digits. Luis got another triple to fall before Scott hit his third of the game to expand the Red Storm's lead to 48-30 with 1:36 to go in the half.

The Red Storm shot 50.0 percent (8-16 3FG) from beyond-the-arc and forced the Huskies into nine turnovers to spring out to a 50-32 advantage heading into the locker room. It marked the largest ever halftime lead for the Johnnies in the 73-game all-time series against Connecticut.

In the second half, the Johnnies tacked onto their lead early when Smith delivered a crafty pass to Richmond for the fastbreak finish. On the next possession it was Smith again swiping a steal and distributed the ball on the break finding Scott as the lead grew to 22, 54-32.

Connecticut orchestrated a 13-3 spurt to trim its deficit to 12, 57-45, at 14:20. The Huskies would keep creeping back into the contest as Karaban hit two triples in just over a minute span to climb within nine, 62-53, forcing a Johnnies timeout.

The Red Storm responded with a pair of mid-range jumpers from Richmond and a putback slam from Ejiofor as the cushion was rebuilt to double digits.

Later in the period, after Solo Ball knocked down a triple for the Huskies, Simeon Wilcher flushed a mid-range jumper to bring the crowd back into the contest. Wilcher again rocked The Garden faithful with a layup through contact to balloon the advantage to 19, 82-63, with 4:04 left on the clock.

Down the stretch, Ejiofor put the exclamation point on the victory with a second chance dunk with 2:10 to play to push St. John's back up by 20.

With the win, St. John's improved to a perfect 17-0 at home and looks to complete a perfect home slate on Saturday, March 1 against Seton Hall at Madison Square Garden. The Johnnies have also now won 12 of their 17 home contests by double-figures.

St. John's will be back in action on Wednesday to face Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Tip-off from Indianapolis is slated for 9 p.m. and the game will air on CBSSN.