No. 20 St. John's atop Big East and looking to end drought in 2nd season under Pitino

Updated Jan. 23, 2025 6:00 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

NEW YORK (AP) — In his second season on the job, Rick Pitino is at it again.

This time, the Hall of Fame coach has St. John's evoking the glory days in Queens decades ago.

Riding the program's best start in 39 years, the 20th-ranked Red Storm (17-3, 8-1 Big East) regained sole possession of first place in the Big East standings by rallying past Xavier 79-71 in overtime Wednesday night.

St. John's hasn't won even a share of the regular-season conference crown since 1992. That was the final season on the sidelines for iconic coach Lou Carnesecca, who died Nov. 30 just a few weeks shy of his 100th birthday.

“We’re bringing St. John’s back to where it needs to be,” Pitino said. "It’s a shame Lou is not alive. He’d be very proud of this team, the way they fight.”

The drought is the longest in Big East history — of course, several schools exited without any conference titles at all before spending anywhere near 33 years in the league.

Butler and DePaul are the only current members without a regular-season championship, but both joined the conference this century. Every other charter member of the Big East, which began play in 1979-80, has won at least one regular-season title since the most recent of five captured by the Johnnies under Carnesecca.

Led by RJ Luis Jr., Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond, this St. John's squad is off to the school's best start since opening 20-2 in 1985-86, when a team that finished 31-5 earned the program's third No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in a four-year span.

The Red Storm are 8-1 in the Big East for the first time since 1999, a squad that reached the Elite Eight under coach Mike Jarvis. The program fell on hard times soon after, however, and the Johnnies haven't won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000. They're looking for their first March Madness bid in six years.

“The most important thing for us is to keep improving and keep winning,” Pitino said. "We cannot take losses. It’s a non-negotiable thing for us, and that’s the attitude we have, and that’s where we come back. I think these guys have a great fear of losing, a great fear, and that’s a good thing.”

There's a long way to go.

St. John's hasn't played No. 10 Marquette or No. 19 UConn yet, with two meetings still scheduled against each one. The Red Storm don't have any wins against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25.

So, the road ahead gets much tougher.

“Everybody’s going to give you their best shot,” Ejiofor said.

But the Johnnies are back in the poll this week, with their highest ranking in a decade, for the first time since spending two weeks in November at No. 22. And they've shown a penchant for big comebacks, offsetting some dreadful 3-point shooting with lockdown man-to-man defense and relentless rebounding — especially on the offensive glass.

The Red Storm's three losses were by a combined five points — one on a 3-pointer at the buzzer and all against Power Five teams. Senior point guard Deivon Smith, a Utah transfer, has missed two of the past three games with a right shoulder injury, yet St. John's has won six straight and 12 of 13 while improving to 13-0 at home.

“Their pressure broke us tonight,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said after his team squandered a 16-point lead in the second half. "They can really wear on you with their style.

"No lead is safe against them," he added. “They have a great defensive team.”

It's a familiar pattern for the 72-year-old Pitino, who won national championships at Kentucky (1996) and Louisville (2013) and also guided Providence to the 1987 Final Four.

At his first stop as a head coach, Boston University improved from 17-9 in Pitino's first year to 21-9 the next. Providence went from 17-14 to 25-9, Kentucky jumped from 14-14 to 22-6, Louisville from 19-13 to 25-7, and Iona from 12-6 during a pandemic-abbreviated season to 25-8.

St. John’s went 20-13 in his debut last season but was snubbed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee despite a strong finish. Now in his second year, he's trying to become the first coach to take six schools to the NCAAs.

“We've got it rolling right now and winning does that,” Pitino said. “Look, this is New York. It’s all about winning.”

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

share

in this topic

St. John's Red Storm