St. John’s men’s basketball knocks off Butler to win first share of Big East regular season title since 1991-92

The Johnnies had an off night, but brought their best down the stretch to win a slice of the Big East crown for the first time in 33 years

It didn’t come easy, and the Red Storm teased with losing control of the game all night as fouls piled up and extra possessions became hard to come by, but St. John’s played their best when it mattered most and defeated Butler by a score of 76-70 on Wednesday night to clinch a share of the Big East regular season title for the first time since the 1991-92 season and set a new program record for Big East wins in a season with 16.

St. John’s held an early 17-7 lead, but foul trouble sent Zuby Ejiofor to the bench and allowed Butler to remain in Wednesday’s game. The Johnnies offense didn’t miss a beat with their star center on the bench, holding a 38-32 lead and shooting 53.1% from the field at halftime, but Ejiofor’s absence was instead felt in the lack of physicality and hustle on the boards for the Red Storm. Butler out-rebounded the Red Storm 19-16 and scored 18 points in the paint before returning to the locker room. Starting center Boden Kapke scored nine quick first-half points and picked up four offensive rebounds with Vince Iwuchukwu as his primary matchup.

After St. John’s took a 51-44 second-half lead, the Bulldogs rallied with a 13-6 run led by Kolby King — who played for the Red Storm under Mike Anderson in the 2022-23 season. With 7:38 remaining in the second half, King laid in a difficult contested layup, drew the foul, and sank the and-one free throw to give Butler their first lead since the opening minute.

As they’ve done all season whenever the game was in the balance, the Johnnies twisted momentum back in their favor with an 8-2 run over the next two minutes. R.J. Luis rebounded from a 4-of-18 shooting day versus UConn with a very efficient 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting and 3-of-6 from deep, keeping the team afloat when Zuby Ejiofor was sent off with foul trouble. Luis would finish that 8-2 run with a rousing fastbreak dunk off a missed Jahmyl Telfort jumper.

Rick Pitino’s watertight defense held the Bulldogs without a made field goal for over five minutes before Kolby King would again respond with a clutch three-point play with 2:15 left to cut the St. John’s lead to 66-64. R.J. Luis and Patrick McCaffrey then traded free throws to hold the Johnnies lead to two points with less than 90 seconds to play.

On the next Red Storm possession, Luis was blocked by Andre Screen, and it appeared Butler had a chance to get on the fastbreak to tie the game, but the ball was touched by Kolby King as he was leaping over the baseline, giving St. John’s possession with five seconds remaining on the shot clock.

The Red Storm found themselves in almost the same spot as they were in nearly three weeks ago versus UConn in Storrs, Connecticut when they were set to inbound the ball from the baseline with a one-possession lead and only a sliver of the shot clock to work with. Unlike that play in Storrs, R.J. Luis couldn’t free himself around Zuby Ejiofor’s screen, leaving Ejiofor to pick up the inbound pass in an awkward position in the post.

On the broken play, Ejiofor made chicken salad out of chicken droppings. The big man spun around Andre Screen and dropped a high floater that cleared all seven feet, one inch of Screen, pinged off the back iron and rolled into the hoop to give St. John’s a 70-66 lead to help seal the game.

Ejiofor finished with 12 points, four rebounds, and three assists despite only playing 23 minutes on Wednesday. Kadary Richmond (13 points) and Deivon Smith (10 points) also scored in double-figures. Aaron Scott would have played all forty minutes had he not banged his knee during a collision with Boden Kapke midway through the second half, sending him to the locker room with what appeared to be a serious injury before Scott returned to the floor only two minutes into the game action later.

St. John’s (25-4, 16-2 Big East) will look to clinch their first outright Big East regular season title in over 40 years when they face the Seton Hall Pirates (7-21, 2-15 Big East) at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, March 1 (2:15 p.m., CBS).