St. John’s men’s basketball storms back against UConn in another come-from-behind victory

The Johnnies weathered UConn’s early onslaught, battled back, then broke down the Huskies with high-pressing defense and clutch baskets by R.J. Luis

If there is one overarching theme of this 2024-25 St. John’s men’s basketball season, it is that it will take a lot to kill this team. Before Christmas, a horrifically slow first half didn’t stop the Johnnies from crawling back and knocking off Providence with a buzzer-beating hook shot by Zuby Ejiofor in the hornet’s nest known as Amica Mutual Pavilion. Two separate 15-point deficits did not stop St. John’s from flipping the script and beating Georgetown and Xavier on their home court.

On Friday night, UConn walloped St. John’s in the jaw for the first eight minutes, and like the Johnnies have done all season whenever they faced early adversity — they brushed it off, composed themselves, and maneuvered their way to a win with saran-wrap-tight defense and a stone cold clutch basket by a team leader — beating No. 19 UConn by a score of 68-62 to secure their tenth win in a row and their second straight ranked victory this week.

The Huskies were the aggressors early, thanks to a flurry of buckets by Solomon Ball and Jaylin Stewart, commanding a 26-12 lead after Tarris Reed hammered home a dunk that could have portended an early knockout. UConn topped St. John’s at their own game in the first half, winning the rebound battle by 12 and nearly hauling in as many offensive rebounds (10) as St. John’s had total boards (14).

After the under-12 media timeout, St. John’s remembered who they were. Deivon Smith buried a fall-away three, drawing the foul on a late close-out by Alex Karaban, then sinking the and-one free throw. That four-point play triggered a 25-9 St. John’s run for the rest of the first half to give the Johnnies a slim 37-35 lead heading into halftime, with the Johnnies pressing on the inbounds and rallying to the ball with the energy that was dearly missed in the first eight minutes.

After both teams traded a basket to open the second half, the St. John’s offense shut down out of the break, missing eleven straight attempts after Simeon Wilcher’s tying three with 18:20 left in the second half. Even though St. John’s only held UConn to three field goals until R.J. Luis broke the scoring drought with a jumper eight minutes later, the Johnnies found themselves playing from behind again.

A couple of minutes later, Liam McNeeley made an off-kilter three-point jumper in the dying seconds of the shot clock to give the Huskies a 51-46 lead with 9:15 remaining, which would have been a confidence breaker in most instances. But St. John’s pulled the locks on UConn’s offense for the next six-and-a-half minutes, not allowing a field goal and forcing eight of the Huskies’ 22 total turnovers in this stretch to spur a 14-1 run and take the lead late. Kadary Richmond was held scoreless in the first half, but came alive to score 12 points in the second half and forced a critical steal on Liam McNeeley which initiated a breakaway layup during this run.

UConn did not go away, with Reed and McNeeley breaking the Red Storm press, sinking layups, and making free throws to cut the St. John’s lead down to 64-62 with 39 seconds remaining. R.J. Luis melted the clock down, and the Johnnies thought they had the right shot created, but Solomon Ball rejected Simeon Wilcher’s corner three-point attempt, which bounced out of bounds off Liam McNeeley with three seconds remaining on the shot clock.

Off the inbound play, R.J. Luis used a Zuby Ejiofor screen to free him from a trailing Liam McNeeley and quickly buried a mid-range jumper to give the Johnnies a two-possession lead with 10.1 seconds remaining and silence the raucous Gampel Pavilion crowd. A stop on the other end and a pair of Zuby Ejiofor free throws clinched the win for the Johnnies. Luis would go on to finish with a team-high 21 points (10-of-21 FG) and seven rebounds.

No. 12 St. John’s returns to action on Wednesday, February 12, when they travel to suburban Philadelphia to face the Villanova Wildcats at Finneran Pavilion. Tip-off is slated for 6:00 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on FS1.