St. John’s men’s basketball batters UConn at MSG to sweep regular season series

The Red Storm’s starting five put on an incredible two-way performance and moved closer to a Big East regular season title

St. John’s heard the nagging chirps of “Storrs South” from UConn fans for years in reference to their home floor of Madison Square Garden, and their on-court performance and in-the-arena support haven’t provided a compelling counterargument to the razzing from their Big East rival. UConn has won eight straight games at the Garden since the start of last season, and St. John’s hasn’t beaten the Huskies in midtown Manhattan since 2013.

That changed Sunday afternoon as St. John’s staked their claim to the Garden. The Johnnies overwhelmed the Huskies in front of a crowd mostly represented in red, not navy blue. Chants of “Let’s Go Johnnies” (as well as a less family-friendly chant directed at Dan Hurley) reverberated around the crowd as St. John’s blitzed UConn, 89-75, to sweep the Huskies in the regular season for the first time since the 1999-00 season.

All five St. John’s starters scored in double-figures and combined to record 19 of the Red Storm’s 22 steals and blocks. Of those starters, Kadary Richmond, Aaron Scott, and Zuby Ejiofor each recorded at least two steals and two blocks. Despite facing foul trouble, Richmond (6-of-13) and Ejiofor (5-of-6) led the Red Storm with 18 points apiece. R.J. Luis had a rough shooting day in his return from a groin injury, posting 14 points on 4-of-18 shooting, but he made three of his six attempts from deep.

After UConn pulled ahead with a narrow 20-19 lead with 10:15 left in the first half, St. John’s seized momentum with a 16-2 run, holding the Huskies to only one made field goal in almost five minutes of play. The Johnnies continued their lights-out long-range shooting from Wednesday night’s blowout win over DePaul, converting half of their three-point shots in the first half (8-of-16), propelling the Red Storm to a 50-32 halftime lead. On the contrary, UConn was stone cold from deep and shot 1-of-10.

St. John’s took their largest lead of the game with 18:36 remaining in the second half to make it 54-32 after an Aaron Scott fastbreak layup off a Deivon Smith steal. UConn mounted a desperate 21-8 run which culminated in an Alex Karaban three to slice the lead down to 62-53 with 12:36 remaining, but the Huskies did not get any closer. Over one minute later, Kadary Richmond sank a mid-range jumper to trigger a 19-8 Red Storm run that pulled the game out of reach. Despite the Red Storm’s three-point shooting touch running out, missing all three attempts taken after halftime, they still posted 39 second-half points.

After improving to an overall record of 24-4 and a Big East record of 15-2, the No. 10 St. John’s men’s basketball team flies out to Indianapolis to face the Butler Bulldogs (13-14, 6-10 Big East) on Wednesday, February 26. Tip-off is scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.