RV/No. 25 St. John’s Roars Back to Down Seton Hall, 65-60

Tuesday, January 20

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

7 p.m.

St. John's University

14-5,7-1Big East

Seton Hall

14-5,4-4Big East

Seton Hall

St. John's (NY)

RV/No. 25 St. John’s Roars Back to Down Seton Hall, 65-60

1/20/2026 10:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Head Coach Rick Pitino records his 899th career on-court victory tying Bob Knight for fourth all-time in NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball history

NEW YORK - Trailing by 15 points with 15:40 to play, the RV/No. 25 St. John's men's basketball team (14-5, 7-1 BIG EAST) engineered a furious comeback to rally past Seton Hall (14-5, 4-4 BIG EAST), 65-60, on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. St. John's Head Coach Rick Pitino collected his 899^th career on-court victory.

The Red Storm orchestrated a pivotal 25-7 scoring run and dominated the Pirates, 33-13, over the final 15 minutes to log its fifth consecutive victory. The second half rally marked the largest deficit overcome to win a game since the Red Storm erased a pair of 16-point leads at Providence (Dec. 20) and against Xavier (Jan. 22).

St. John's is now out to a 7-1 start in BIG EAST play for the second straight season. Prior to last year, the Johnnies had not started 7-1 in league competition since 1998-99. Pitino's 899^th on-court win ties him for fourth all-time in NCAA Division I Men's Basketball history with Bob Knight. With his next victory, Pitino would become the fourth coach in NCAA Division I history to reach win the elusive 900-win plateau joining Mike Kzryzewski (1,202), Jim Boeheim (1,116) and Roy Williams (903).

During their valiant rally, St. John's pulled down 27 second half rebounds, including 13 on the offensive glass and limited the Pirates to 22 points in the latter stanza. Seton Hall shot 28.0 percent (7-25 FG) from the floor over the final 20 minutes.

Dillon Mitchell was all over the court on Tuesday, logging his second consecutive double-double. The senior captain recorded 17 points and matched a season-high with 11 boards. It marked the first time the forward registered double-doubles in back-to-back games since his sophomore year at Texas in 2024.

Bryce Hopkins posted a near double-double, registering 13 points and eight rebounds, marking his fifth straight double-digit scoring outing. Ruben Prey shot 6-for-6 from the free throw line and Zuby Ejiofor dished out a game-high six assists.

Stephon Payne III guided Seton Hall with 13 points and 15 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end.

Mitchell paced the Red Storm early, tallying six of the Johnnies first eight points. The forward scored his 1,000^th career point at the free throw line early in the first half. The Pirates cashed in one their first three attempts from downtown to build a 16-10 advantage with 13:46 left on the clock.

Seton Hall held a six-point edge, 20-14, before Ejiofor found Sadiku Ibine Ayo on a cut to the basket for the easy lay-up. Dylan Darling collected a steal before swishing a second chance 3-pointer to pull within one, 20-19. Ejiofor kept finding his open teammates throwing a bounce pass to the Hopkins on the low block for the one-handed jam. The big man recorded a helper on the St. John's third straight basket finding Mitchell for the make inside the paint and the Red Storm's first lead of the night, 23-22, with 7:22 remaining in the first half.

In the final five minutes of a hard-fought opening half Ejiofor tallied a pair of buckets before a 10-3 Seton Hall spurt brought its lead to as many as eight, 38-30. Prey knocked down a pair of free throw with 36 seconds remaining to bring the scoreline to 38-32 at halftime.

In the second half, Seton Hall came out hot scoring the first nine points to expand its lead to as many as 15, 47-32, with 16:03 left in the contest. Hopkins ended the scoring drought and Oziyah Sellers banged a corner triple to chop the deficit to 10, 47-37.

With the Pirates leading by 11, the Johnnies began to shift the momentum coming out of the under-12 timeout. Mitchell fed Hopkins on the baseline out of bounds play for the throwdown. The Red Storm forced a 10-second violation on the ensuing possession as the crowd of 13,776 came alive in Midtown Manhattan.

St. John's continued to claw at the lead as Mitchell slammed home an alley-oop to pull within seven, 50-43, with 10:40 remaining. Sanon helped chip away at the Seton Hall lead as the sophomore guard knocked down a floater to climb within one, 53-52, with 5:55 to go.

Prey then found Mitchell in the paint for the go-ahead basket as the Red Storm captured its first lead, 55-54, since it was in front, 23-22, at the 7:22 mark of the first half with under five minutes to go.

Darling delivered on a drive down the lane to complete a 25-7 scoring run that put the Johnnies ahead by three. The Red Storm held Seton Hall without a field goal for an 8:24 span during its comeback bid.

Darling made another key play down the stretch, pickpocketing the Pirates ballhandler and taking it to the rack to go up by five, 61-56, with 1:10 to go. The Johnnies made stops down the stretch to complete their largest comeback of the 2025-26.

Pitino will go for his 900^th career victory on Saturday when he faces off against his son, Richard Pitino, and his Xavier team at 2:30 p.m. inside the Cintas Center.