It was a heavyweight matchup of embittered rivals that lived up to its main event billing. The best two teams in the Big East traded blows for forty minutes inside of a supercharged Madison Square Garden on Friday night. Once the final buzzer sounded, St. John’s delivered the knockout punch against third-ranked UConn for their biggest win in the Rick Pitino era and put them in position to control their own destiny in the conference.
The frontcourt triumvirate of Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins, and Dillon Mitchell had their finest game together, combining for 50 points and 22 of the Red Storm’s 32 rebounds.
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Ejiofor was a man amongst boys, almost recording a triple-double with a team-high 21 points, ten rebounds, and seven assists. The Red Storm’s star big man also had three blocks and two steals to boot.
Dillon Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins punished the Huskies in the paint. Mitchell logged 15 points (7-of-9 shooting) and six rebounds, while Hopkins had 14 points (4-of-7 shooting) and six rebounds.
While Mitchell only had one steal, it was a massive one. With 7:42 remaining in the second half, Mitchell intercepted a Jayden Ross pass and bolted down the court with the latest of his many thunderous dunks to give the Red Storm a seven-point lead.
Although UConn had an excellent shooting night, going 54.7% from the field and 9-of-19 from three, St. John’s made the Huskies ball-handlers uncomfortable with their unrelenting press defense, forcing 15 turnovers and scoring 20 points off of them. Silas Demary, Jr., who was close to becoming a Johnny before deciding to go to Storrs, committed a season-high nine turnovers, his most since he handed over ten giveaways as a Georgia guard against none other than St. John’s in the Bahamas last season.
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The Huskies had the early edge while the Red Storm struggled to generate consistent offense, taking a 16-10 lead after four consecutive makes. St. John’s promptly responded with a 13-1 run to take a six-point advantage, the largest lead that either team would take before they went into halftime with a 39-39 deadlock. That see-saw affair continued until St. John’s took command with a 10-0 run from the 16:48 mark as Bryce Hopkins’ triple from the top of the key gave them their first double-digit lead of the game.
Zuby Ejiofor expanded that lead to 11 points with five straight points, but UConn wasn’t planning on going away quietly into the night, responding with a 16-6 run after back-to-back triples to cut the Red Storm lead down to 66-65 with 4:46 remaining.
Late-game offensive execution was going to be paramount in the closing stretch, and multiple St. John’s players had big moments down the wire. Off a missed front-end free throw by Bryce Hopkins, Zuby Ejiofor hustled to collect the offensive rebound and found Dillon Mitchell in the paint, who pirouetted at the basket and made a layup to give the Red Storm a 69-65 lead at the 3:57 mark.
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Following an Alex Karaban layup, Dylan Darling lived up to his coach’s “balls as big as church bells” description by sinking a step-back three-point jumper to build the Red Storm’s lead to 72-67 with 3:13 remaining. Darling would finish with nine points (3-of-4 shooting) and two assists.
Joson Sanon forced a dead-ball turnover on Silas Demary, Jr. as he was driving to the basket on the very next play, then Zuby Ejiofor made another hook shot to expand that lead to 74-67. After another Karaban layup, Dillon Mitchell delivered the dagger by tapping in a putback layup using one outstretched arm off a missed Joson Sanon three to give the Red Storm a 76-70 lead with 1:39 to go. While UConn went a gaudy 1-of-6 from the line in the second half, free throws in the final two minutes by Hopkins and Ejiofor iced the game from there.
Friday night’s victory is St. John’s’ first win over a top-three ranked opponent since they defeated No. 3 Villanova on February 3, 2021, behind closed doors at Carnesecca Arena.
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Extending their winning streak to nine games, the 22nd-ranked Red Storm (18-5, 11-1 Big East) will have the weekend off before they are back at Madison Square Garden to host the Xavier Musketeers (12-11, 4-8 Big East) on Monday, February 9. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., and the game can be watched on FS1.
