BACK-TO-BACK: No. 18/17 St, John’s Repeats as BIG EAST Regular Season Champions at Seton Hall, 72-65

Joson Sanon added six points, knocking down a pair of three pointers off the bench for the Johnnies.

BACK-TO-BACK: No. 18/17 St, John’s Repeats as BIG EAST Regular Season Champions at Seton Hall, 72-65

3/7/2026 1:07:00 AM | Men's Basketball

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The Johnnies enter the 2026 BIG EAST Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the second-straight year

NEWARK, N.J. - The No. 18/17 St. John's men's basketball team repeated as BIG EAST Regular Season Champions on Friday with a 72-65 victory over Seton Hall. With the win, the Red Storm locked up the top-seed in next week's BIG EAST Tournament.

The Johnnies captured back-to-back regular season crowns for the first time since 1984-85 & 1985-86. The Red Storm has now won seven BIG EAST Regular Season titles in program history (1980, '83, '85, '86, '92, 2025, '26).

Over the last two years, St. John's (25-6, 18-2 BIG EAST) has won 36 BIG EAST games. No conference member school has ever won more than 32 games in a two-season span. Dating back to the final five games of the 2023-24 campaign, the Johnnies became the third-ever program to win 41 league contests in a 45-game span.

St. John's tied the conference record for league wins for the second consecutive year tallying an 18-2 BIG EAST mark. The Johnnies tied last year's squad and 2023-24 UConn with 18 league wins in a single-season.

To clinch another championship, the Johnnies fended off the Pirates comeback to earn their first-ever consecutive wins at the Prudential Center.

The Red Storm will take the top seed into The World's Most Famous Arena for the fourth time in the program's history. The Johnnies hold an 8-1 all-time mark as the no. 1 seed in the tournament.

The regular season crown marks the 14^th in the career of Head Coach Rick Pitino in 38 seasons as a collegiate coach. The victory marks the fourth BIG EAST title of the Hall of Famer's career with two at Louisville (2009, '13) and the last two years in Queens.

Zuby Ejiofor, despite battling foul trouble, recorded a game-high 21 points on 8-of-12 (66.7%) shooting from the floor. It marked the ninth 20-plus point performance for the senior.

Dillon Mitchell tied a career-high logging seven assists and added seven rebounds on Friday. Dylan Darling chipped in nine points and five helpers. Bryce Hopkins and Oziyah Sellers both reached double-digits in scoring posting 11 points apiece.

The Red Storm shut down the Pirates long-range shooting limiting Seton Hall to 9.1% (1-11).

After Seton Hall (20-11, 10-10 BIG EAST) opened the game up with the lead, the Red Storm responded with 11-1 scoring run. The Johnnies dished out assists on their first six made field goals as Darling's 3-pointer off a feed from Mitchell sprung the advantage to 14-7 with 14:12 left to play.

Later in the opening half, the Pirates surged back to take their first lead since the opening minutes of the game, 22-21, with 5:35 remaining in the half. The Johnnies responded instantly as Mitchell rose up for a one-handed putback jam. The two squads were neck-and-neck coming down the stretch in the opening stanza. Ruben Prey hit a triple and finished a bucket inside in the last two minutes to give the Johnnies a 30-27 lead at halftime.

In the second half, Joson Sanon buried a pair of 3-pointers and Sellers cashed in from beyond-the-arc to eclipse the 1,000-career point mark and balloon the Johnnies lead to 44-35 with 15:13 remaining. Seton Hall clawed right back rattling off seven straight points to get back within a single-point. Darling finished two acrobatic lay-ins to maintain the edge in Newark. With the Pirates knocking on the door, Sellers buried another timely triple to propel the lead back to six, 55-49. The senior guard capped off a 12-2 run with another crucial flush from downtown to take a double-digit lead, 62-51, with just over four minutes to play.

The Pirates trimmed their deficit to a single possession on two separate occasions, including A.J. Staton-McCray nailing a triple with 47 seconds to go to make it 66-63. Ejiofor responded with two clutch free throws and fed Mitchell for a lay-in to seal the BIG EAST Regular Season crown.

St. John's will now prepare for the 2026 BIG EAST Tournament at Madison Square Garden. The Red Storm will open up the tournament in the quarterfinal round at 12 p.m. The opponent is to be determined.