The Johnnies have only beaten Creighton in Omaha once. Tuesday night is a great chance of turning the tide.
Tuesday night’s matchup with Creighton is not only a chance to earn another Quad 1 win for St. John’s but also another opportunity to prove they are not the same old Johnnies and can win in hostile environments against good opponents.
Creighton has commanded their series against St. John’s since joining the Big East in 2013, with the Bluejays winning in 16 of 26 different meetings. St. John’s fared even worse when traveling to Omaha, winning only one of their 11 road meetings against Creighton inside CHI Health Center. The Red Storm’s lone victory in Omaha came in the 2018-19 season, a surprising 83-67 blowout, coinciding with the last time the Red Storm reached the NCAA tournament. St. John’s may have struggled the most in Omaha under Mike Anderson, who lost all four road meetings with Creighton in his tenure by an average margin of defeat of 20.25 points.
When the new-look Red Storm came to town last January with Hall of Fame head coach Rick Pitino and jumped to a 56-47 second-half lead, it felt like the times were indeed changing, but a late-game slide and an egregious no-call on Francisco Farabello’s late close-out attempt of a Jordan Dingle jumper at the final buzzer soiled a chance at a rare road win against Creighton.
The odds look better for St. John’s to claim a long-awaited visiting win over Creighton this season. The Red Storm integrated new talent that better fits Rick Pitino’s gritty system and is ranked in the top 15 in KenPom rankings for the first time since 1999. Meanwhile, Creighton is struggling to figure out how to support Ryan Kalkbrenner in a post-Trey Alexander and Baylor Scheierman world, which has become a more complicated problem with the loss of third-leading scorer Pop Isaacs for the season due to a hip injury. The Bluejays enter Tuesday with an 8-5 record, with a confusingly rough 81-57 road loss to a resurgent-yet-not-as-good Georgetown team pushing Creighton to the fringe of the NCAA tournament picture. If there is a time to beat Creighton, it’s now.
Under Rick Pitino, St. John’s started to adopt a road warrior mindset in venues that previously haunted the Red Storm. Last season, the Red Storm beat Villanova by double-digits to claim their first victory at Finneran Pavilion since 1993. One month after their win over Villanova, they battered Butler in a 82-59 rout on the floor of Hinkle Fieldhouse, where they have only won twice in ten previous meetings. Less than ten days ago, St. John’s clawed back from a 16-point deficit and finished Providence at the buzzer inside the notoriously unfriendly confines of Amica Mutual Pavilion for the first time since 2017.
A road win over Creighton — a team that has frustrated St. John’s for over a decade — could go a long way in resetting the narrative of futility that follows the Red Storm.