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St John's Big East basketball

March Madness: Coach Cal Awaits

March 20, 2025 by Digital Sports Desk

PROVIDENCE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – RJ Luis Jr. made a career-high five 3-pointers and second-seeded St. John’s found its shooting stroke en route to an 83-53 victory over No. 15 seed Omaha in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night in Rhode Island.

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St. John’s (31-4) earned its first tournament win since 2000. Coach Rick Pitino and the Big East champs will face John Calipari and No. 10 seed Arkansas in the second round Saturday.

Luis led all scorers with 22 points and added eight rebounds. He made 5 of 8 attempts from deep as St. John’s — a 30.4 percent 3-point shooting team entering the night — matched a season high with 14 3-pointers to counter Omaha clogging the lanes.

Simeon Wilcher scored 13 points for the Red Storm. Kadary Richmond had 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Zuby Ejiofor added 10 points, seven boards, four assists and three blocks.

JJ White posted 15 points and five assists to lead Omaha (22-13), which was playing in its first Division I NCAA Tournament after claiming the Summit League championship.

Marquel Sutton scored 11 for the Mavericks, and Isaac Ondekane pulled down 10 of his 11 rebounds in the first half.

St. John’s missed its first five shots and let Omaha stake out a 7-0 lead, prompting an early timeout from Pitino. After Richmond got the Red Storm on the board, Luis scored eight St. John’s points in a row, bookended by a pair of 3-pointers.

The Mavericks moved ahead 20-14 before St. John’s turned the tables. Wilcher cut the lead in half with a 3-pointer, prompting a 16-2 run that featured triples by Deivon Smith, Ruben Prey and another from Wilcher.

Omaha scored six in a row to cut it to 30-28, but Vince Iwuchukwu got inside for a bucket that turned into a three-point play with two seconds left, giving St. John’s a 33-28 halftime edge.

Luis kept the Red Storm 3-point party going by making one 14 seconds into the second half. Teammate Aaron Scott splashed a trey, then Luis and Wilcher went on a two-on-one that ended in an alley-oop dunk by Luis, giving St. John’s firm control at 43-30.

Luis knocked down another two triples to hand St. John’s its first 20-point lead with 13:14 to go. Critically, the Red Storm had assists on their first eight made field goals of the half with no turnovers.

St. John’s held the Mavericks to 7-of-34 field-goal shooting (20.6 percent) and outrebounded them 31-19 in the second half.

–Field Level Media

Filed Under: Big East, March Madness, NCAA, NCAA Basketball Tagged With: March Madness, NCAA Basketball Tournament, Omaha, St John's Big East basketball

St. John’s Defeats Mighty UConn

February 8, 2025 by Digital Sports Desk

STORRS – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – St. John’s (21-3, 12-1 BIG EAST) earned a pivotal road win at Connecticut (16-7, 8-4 BIG EAST), with a 68-62 defensive victory in their Friday showdown on the campus of the two-time defending national champion.

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The Johnnies came back from an early 14-point deficit before a hostile sold-out crowd of 12,299 at Gampel Pavilion to earn their 10th straight BIG EAST victory. St. John’s has now won 16 of its last 17 games and earned back-to-back Top-20 victories in the same week for the first time since 2006.

The Red Storm unleashed a pressure defensive effort midway through the second half, forcing eight turnovers in just over five minutes that fueled a decisive 12-0 to reclaim the lead. In the final moments of the game, St. John’s wing, RJ Luis Jr., delivered the dagger with a baseline jumper off an out of bounds play with 11 seconds remaining to put St. John’s up by four points.

Luis finished with 21 points to pace the Johnnies and scored eight points in the final 2:16. The 20-point effort marked the junior’s seventh 20+ effort of the season. Luis also grabbed seven rebounds and shot 10-for-15 inside the 3-point arc.

Kadary Richmond added 12 points all in the second half and played an integral role with timely buckets down the stretch. The graduate student from Brooklyn finished with six rebounds and five assists.

Simeon Wilcher tallied his 10th double-figure scoring effort of the year with 11 points. Zuby Ejiofor was the fourth St. John’s player to finish in double-digits tallying 11 points while shooting 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.

The Red Storm dominated in turnover margin (+15) committing only seven, while forcing UConn into 22 turnovers. The Johnnies outscored the Huskies 18-2 in points off turnovers.

Liam McNeeley led the hometown Huskies in his return from injury with 18 points. Tarris Reed Jr. finished with a double-double recording 12 points and 15 rebounds.

Early in the first half, the Huskies used an 11-0 scoring run that was capped by a three-pointer from Jaylin Stewart to take a 21-8 advantage at the 14:22 mark. Connecticut extended its lead to as many as 14 after Solo Ball hit a 3-pointer as the Huskies started off 5-for-9 from long-range.

After the mandatory under-12 minute timeout, St. John’s guard Deivon Smith jumpstarted the comeback with a four-point play, flushing a triple through contact to turn the tides. Wilcher’s mid-range jumper counted for an 8-0 run as the Red Storm quickly drew the deficit to six, 26-20. Soon after, Smith dished to Ejiofor for the fastbreak slam before Luis finished in the paint to close another run (7-0) and St. John’s trailed by a single-point, 28-27.

With the game back in the balance and the Huskies ahead by four, Wilcher corralled a long offensive rebound and splashed a triple from the corner. It was the sophomore once again that gave St. John’s its first lead, 34-33, with a layup through the painted area at 2:29. Ejiofor came up with a big “And-one” in the final minute of the half to give the Johnnies a two-point advantage, 37-35, heading into the break.

Second Half Start

The Huskies tallied the first five points of the second half before Wilcher quieted the crowd with a make from beyond-the-arc to knot the score at 40 at the 18:20 mark. Both offenses sputtered as the team defenses dug-in and the game remained close.

Trailing by five with just under 10 minutes remaining, the Johnnies continued to wreak havoc defensively forcing six turnovers in a four-minute span that led directly to six points. After Luis tied the score at 52 apiece, another Huskies’ miscue gave the Red Storm possession. Richmond capitalized with a made jumper as the Johnnies captured their first lead since halftime, 54-52, with 5:30 remaining. St. John’s wouldn’t stop there as a Richmond made a steal at midcourt and turned it into a putback by Scott as the run ballooned to 12-0.

Down the stretch, after a free throws from Richmond that extended the advantage to eight, 60-52, UConn responded quickly chopping its deficit to four before Luis retaliated with a mid-range make.

McNeeley hit four free throws to bring the Huskies’ deficit down to just two, 64-62, with 33 seconds remaining. On an out-of-bounds play, Luis got free on the baseline and received a dish from Richmond. The Miami native rose up and knocked down a crucial shot with 11 seconds on the clock to seal the victory. The Huskies hurried down the floor and missed a lay-up on their final possession as the Red Storm earned its first victory inside Gampel Pavilion since Jan. 18, 2021.

Filed Under: Big East, Boston Sports, NCAA, NCAA Basketball Tagged With: St John's Big East basketball

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