No. 7/7 St. John’s Captures Share of BIG EAST Regular Season Title; Red Storm Downs Butler, 76-70

Wednesday, February 26

Indianapolis, Ind. (Hinkle Fieldhouse)

9 p.m.

St. John's University

25-4,16-2Big East

Butler

13-15,6-11Big East

St. John's (NY)

Butler

No. 7/7 St. John’s Captures Share of BIG EAST Regular Season Title; Red Storm Downs Butler, 76-70

2/27/2025 12:59:00 AM | Men's Basketball

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The Red Storm men’s basketball team captures first BIG EAST regular season crown since 1992

INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time in 33 years, the No. 7/7 St. John men's basketball team (25-4, 16-2 BIG EAST) captured at least a share of the BIG EAST Regular Season Championship on Wednesday as the Red Storm outlasted Butler (13-15, 6-11 BIG EAST), 76-70, at Hinkle Fieldhouse. RJ Luis Jr. led the Johnnies with 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting including three 3-pointers en route to the team's fourth-straight victory.

With a share of the conference crown, the Red Storm earned its sixth BIG EAST Regular Season title and the program's first since the 1991-92 season. The Johnnies aim to win the outright league championship on Saturday with a win over Seton Hall or a Creighton loss.

The Johnnies previously won all five of its BIG EAST Regular Season titles under Hall of Fame Coach Lou Carnesecca in 1980, '83, '85, '86 and 1992. Fellow Hall of Famer Rick Pitino joins Carnesecca in the St. John's record books and earned his 13^th conference title in 37 seasons as a Division I head coach. Pitino has now guided four different schools to a regular season championship in just his second year leading the program and becomes the first-ever coach to lead five different schools to a title.

Tonight's victory also marks St. John's 16^th BIG EAST win, surpassing the 1984-85 team that previously held the program record with 15 victories before advancing to the NCAA Tournament Final Four. St. John's holds a 16-2 mark in conference competition and reached 25 regular season victories for the first time since the 1985-86 season.

Luis was joined by fellow starters Kadary Richmond (13 points), Zuby Ejiofor (12 points) and Deivon Smith (10 points) who also recorded double figures. St. John's outshot the Bulldogs, 49.2 percent (29-59 FG) to 39.3 percent (24-61 FG), and finished with an eight-point advantage in the paint.

St. John's trailed for only 33 seconds in the contest, 19 seconds in the first half and then just 14 seconds in the later stanza. Luis scored 12 of his 24 points and two of his three 3-pointers in the opening frame to help lead the Red Storm into the locker room with a 38-32 advantage.

The Johnnies opened the game hitting 7-of-10 field goal attempts and led by as many as 10 points less than six minutes into the contest. Ejiofor capped an 8-0 run with consecutive putbacks to give the Red Storm a 17-7 advantage at 14:11 mark.

In the second half, the Bulldogs managed to erase St. John's six-point advantage at the break and eventually took a 57-56 edge at the under eight minute media timeout. Butler guard Kolby King finished a 3-point play to go up one before Luis and Aaron Scott answered back-to-back jumpers reclaiming a lead St. John's would not relinquish.

Butler managed to trim its deficit back to one, 60-59, on a pair of free-throws by Jahmyl Telfort at 6:24. Within the next minute, St. John's scored on consecutive possessions beginning with a tip-in from Ejiofor and fast break dunk by Luis to go up by five.

The Johnnies sealed the victory at the free-throw line by hitting 8-of-10 attempts in the final two minutes of action. Richmond led the team going 5-for-6 from the charity stripe.

Butler was led by Telfort who finished with team-highs of 13 points and seven rebounds.

St. John's returns to Madison Square Garden on Saturday to host Seton Hall at 2:15 p.m. on CBS. Prior to the contest, the Red Storm will celebrate Senior Day. A win over the Pirates would seal a perfect 18-0 home record this season and clinch the program's first outright BIG EAST title in 40 years.