Zuby Ejiofor waved his hands above his head, imploring the St. John\u2019s fans to get louder.<\/p>\n
Booming \u201cLet\u2019s go, Johnnies!\u201d chants followed into the timeout. <\/p>\n
The large Connecticut contingent was now quiet.<\/p>\n
Rick Pitino\u2019s Red Storm weren\u2019t just going to repeat as Big East Tournament champions for the first time in program history. <\/p>\n
They were doing it going away, treating the Huskies like they didn\u2019t belong on the same court.<\/p>\n
There was still 3:26 left on the clock, but that didn\u2019t matter. <\/p>\n
It was a formality, the lead up to 20. <\/p>\n
Top-seeded St. John\u2019s slapped away the No. 2 Huskies\u2019 second-half push, and blitzed them in winning time.<\/p>\n
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
Soon, confetti would be falling from the MSG roof, after this 72-52 beatdown at a sold-out Garden.<\/p>\n
Ejiofor\u2019s final college game at MSG was going to end in a dreamlike fashion, the entire building chanting \u201cZuuuuby,\u201d as he exited the game for the final time. <\/p>\n
Tears streamed down his cheeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was bittersweet,\u201d Ejiofor, named the tournament\u2019s Most Outstanding Player, said after St. John\u2019s became the first Big East school to win back-to-back outright regular-season titles and conference championships. \u201cLike I\u2019ve said pretty much all year, we\u2019ve had a target on our backs and we had to battle through adversity all season. Nobody believed that we could get to this moment but us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dillon Mitchell dunks the ball during St. John\u2019s 72-52 win over UConn in the Big East title game on March 14, 2026. Robert Sabo for the NY Post<\/p>\n
When Connecticut had gotten within seven, Ejiofor refused to let the title get away. <\/p>\n
He hit a 3-pointer, scored in the lane, and blocked a shot that led to a Dillon Mitchell windmill jam. <\/p>\n
St. John\u2019s (28-6) put it away late with a 13-0 run, led by Dylan Darling, the point guard from low-major Idaho State finding his game at just the right time.<\/p>\n
It was fitting that Ejiofor and Pitino cut down the final strand of nets together, the Hall of Fame coach and his star forward who have changed so much about this program. <\/p>\n
Before Pitino\u2019s arrival three years ago, St. John\u2019s was irrelevant. Ejiofor was part of his first transfer class.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve done a lot of things as a tandem that few people thought were possible in Queens.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a program-changing player that forever will change the trajectory of this program,\u201d associate head coach Steve Masiello said of Ejiofor. \u201cThe combination of Rick Pitino and him have changed this program forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zuby Ejiofor reacts during the St. John\u2019s win against UConn on March 14. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
It was only a few weeks ago that St. John\u2019s was humbled, beaten by 32 points by these same Huskies (29-5) in Hartford. <\/p>\n
The Johnnies responded like a champion, winning six straight since then. <\/p>\n
Saturday night they got revenge, making Connecticut tap out in the building their fans like to call \u201cStorrs South,\u201d holding them without a made field goal over the final 8:03. <\/p>\n
UConn was held to 0.82 points per possession, its fewest since Jan. 23, 2020. <\/p>\n
Only one Husky reached double figures, Tarris Reed Jr. with 17 points.<\/p>\n
Zuby Ejiofor dunks the ball during the St. John\u2019s Big East championship win on March 14. Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
\u201cWe laid an egg,\u201d UConn coach Dan Hurley said. \u201cWe laid an egg in something we desperately wanted to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ejiofor turned in a masterpiece: 18 points, nine rebounds, seven blocks and three steals. <\/p>\n
Bryce Hopkins followed with 18 points and Oziyah Sellers had 14. <\/p>\n
Mitchell chipped in nine points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. <\/p>\n
The three forwards, Hopkins, Ejiofor and Mitchell, were all named to the All-Tournament team.<\/p>\n
CHECK OUT THE LATEST BIG EAST STANDINGS<\/a> AND ST. JOHN\u2019S STATS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe three of them, they make up a great, great frontcourt,\u201d Pitino said.<\/p>\n Pitino couldn\u2019t have scripted a better first 8:27. St. John\u2019s scored the game\u2019s first 10 points and led by 14 at that point. <\/p>\n The Red Storm (28-6) started by making 13 of their first 18 shots. <\/p>\n Connecticut had committed as many turnovers (five) as St. John\u2019s missed shots and Hurley was whistled for a technical foul for arguing a non-call.<\/p>\n Dan Hurley reacts from the sideline during UConn\u2019s loss to St. John\u2019s on March 14. Robert Sabo for the NY Post<\/p>\n But the Huskies put together a 7-0 run early in the second half, and suddenly an 18-point lead was quickly down to 11. <\/p>\n It ballooned to a 13-2 burst after consecutive Reed baskets inside, and St. John\u2019s lead was just seven with 12:24 to go. <\/p>\n The Red Storm had missed six of seven shots and were struggling to get quality looks. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tYour weekly dispatch from the No. 1 source on the Johnnies\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside St. John’s by Zach Braziller, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Over the span of the run, 6:03, the Johnnies managed just a Hopkins follow after an offensive rebound.<\/p>\n Out of a timeout, Hopkins hit a left-elbow jumper. <\/p>\n Then Ejiofor sank a 3-pointer. <\/p>\n Order was restored.<\/p>\n St. John\u2019s wasn\u2019t going to be denied. <\/p>\n Not at the Garden. <\/p>\n Not in Ejiofor\u2019s final college game in the building.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so much history with St. John\u2019s,\u201d Pitino said, \u201cand we brought it all back in three years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zuby Ejiofor waved his hands above his head, imploring the St. John\u2019s fans to get louder. Booming \u201cLet\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":657038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[277225,2076,51,50,30692,62,1378,52,51599],"class_list":["post-657037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-big-east-tournament","tag-college-basketball","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-rick-pitino","tag-sports","tag-st-johns-red-storm","tag-top-stories","tag-zuby-ejiofor"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116232365598660667","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}