Georgetown and St. John's turn back the clock with an old-fashioned Big East scuffle
When you hear "Big East," you think of a rich history full of some of the biggest, baddest teams in college basketball history. The schools may have changed, but Georgetown and St. John's — two of the old guard — showed Wednesday that spirit is very much still there.
Down 59-55 with 8:35 to go in the second half of their first-round game in the Big East tournament, the Hoyas' L.J. Peak drove to the basket and was the victim of a hard foul from the Red Storm's Amar Alibegovic.
That didn't sit well with Peak or the rest of the Hoyas, who converged on Alibegovic under the basket. Soon, every player on the court was in the shoving pile.
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St. John's coach Chris Mullin walked to the other end of the court to speak with officials and sort out the scene, just a few feet from the Georgetown bench. John Thompson III, the Hoyas coach, then had some words for Mullin, who fired back and started to lunge toward Thompson before officials and players intervened.
Alibegovic was hit with a flagrant foul. Technicals were issued to Mullin and Georgetown assistant Patrick Ewing Jr., who was also on camera yelling at Mullin. Mullin was playing at St. John's at the same time Ewing's dad was starring at Georgetown.
It was admittedly not the exuberant free-for-all that used to mark the old days of the Big East, as Mullin pointed out in an interview after the game.
"I mean, if you compare it to '85, the air conditioner was on," he said.
If general frustration was a factor, both teams have reason for it. Georgetown is mired in a second straight sub-.500 season while questions about Thompson's future bubble up. St. John's — which hung on, barely, for a 74-73 win — made a big improvement over last season's 1-win Big East campaign but will still also finish the year below .500, barring a miracle run, and are far off from the NCAA Tournament-worthy season of two years ago.
And this is just the first game of the tournament. Catch them all on FS1.
