For the last 25 years, New York City has lacked a college basketball team that embodied the spirit of its resilient people.
But on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, a resurgent St. John’s team completed its reminder to the town of exactly what it has been missing. To do so, the Red Storm fought through early adversity, just as they had throughout their three-day run at the men’s Big East tournament, to claim their first postseason conference title in a quarter century.
“There’s no panic in this stock market,” St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said Friday after his team rallied from down 15 points in the first eight minutes to beat the Marquette Golden Eagles. “These guys don’t panic. [When] down, they dig in, they play hard.”
That proved to be the case again in Saturday’s title game, as the Red Storm overcame a slow start to beat the Creighton Bluejays, 82–66. With the victory, St. John’s claimed the Big East’s automatic bid in the 2025 NCAA tournament, cementing an already historic season with a trophy—and earning itself a real shot to add another.
The Johnnies came out flat offensively Saturday, seemingly daunted by the presence of four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Kalkbrenner lurking in the paint. They scored just 25 points in the first half and trailed by eight after the first eight minutes. But the Red Storm’s relentlessness began to wear on the Bluejays, as it has on so many St. John’s opponents this season. Hands in passing lanes on defense. Running the fast break on tired legs. Forcing the ball into the paint to star forward Zuby Ejiofor over and over and over again.
For all of the deserved fanfare for St. John’s top-ranked defense, Saturday’s barrage finally came on the offensive end, after the team refused to go away earlier in the game. The Red Storm made 17 of their final 19 field goals, which included a stretch of 14 straight made field goals across seven minutes, each basket sending the home crowd into a more frantic frenzy.
“I am, as a New Yorker, about as proud as any person could be because, when I hear St. John’s is New York’s team and we represent New York, that makes me feel awesome inside,” Pitino said Saturday. “So for New York, for St. John’s, to see that crowd tonight, it’s an extra special feeling for me.”
LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 16, 2025
BIG. EAST. CHAMPIONS. @StJohnsBBall pic.twitter.com/rkmUWd6nFg
The run, and the ever-increasing volume in Madison Square Garden, deflated a veteran Creighton team, just as St. John’s did to its opponents in the two previous rounds of the tournament. An 18–3 Johnnies run to start Thursday’s quarterfinal sank the Butler Bulldogs before they had time to settle into the game. Against the Golden Eagles, a 24–9 deficit seemed no matter, as the Red Storm bludgeoned their opponent inside in the second half, scoring 44 of their 79 points in the paint.
St. John’s seemingly dominant run at the Big East tournament—the Johnnies won their three games by a combined 53 points—will be defined by its ability to not roll over when the going gets tough. And of course at the center of it all is the 72-year-old Pitino, a figure who’s no stranger to a precarious situation or a fall from grace. It seems only fitting the team’s return to national relevancy is with a coach who has fallen off the mountaintop only to begin the long climb back.
“Humility is a big part of my life right now,” Pitino said Saturday night when asked if had a message to send to the country. “It wasn’t always that way. I don’t believe in redemption. I believe in humility … I don’t consider ourselves that people should beware of us. I’ve lost in the first round. I’ve been to seven Final Fours. So we’ll take it one game at a time, one possession at a time.”
Based on the play of the last three days, the team has embraced that Pitino philosophy along with his refuse-to-lose mentality. Ejiofor, who followed up a career-high 33-point outburst in the semifinals with another 20 points Saturday, summed up the team’s singular focus with a nod to his coach.
“Pretty much everybody on this team hates losing. Coach P the most,” the Kansas transfer said Friday.
RJ Luis Jr. echoed that sentiment with an on-the-nose Pitino-ism after scoring 29 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the title game en route to earning the Big East tournament Most Outstanding Player award.
“Like Coach P says, there’s not too many second chances in life, so when the opportunity presents itself, you gotta grab it by the neck,” he said.
That’s exactly what St. John’s has done this season, claiming both the regular-season title and the conference tournament in the same year for the first time since 1986. Winners of nine straight, the Johnnies enter the NCAA tournament as hot as any team in the country and are bound for a two-seed, pending the selection committee’s final verdict on Sunday evening.
“We had three phases we set out, and phase one was to win the regular Big East championship,” Pitino said. “Phase two gets very difficult because you can’t embrace what you are accomplishing. You just have to keep getting better. We accomplished that, and phase three was to make the tournament and go as far as we could possibly go.”
If the run over the last few days in New York City is any indication, San Antonio and the Final Four could be the final stop of the journey.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as St. John’s Dances Into NCAA Tournament Embracing Rick Pitino’s Ethos.
