Following a six-point loss to Seton Hall in February of last year, St. John’s coach Rick Pitino was miserable, going on a rant about how his first team at St. John’s lacked lateral quickness and athleticism.
A little over a year after that viral rant, St. John’s (25-4, 16-2) can clinch its first outright regular-season Big East title since 1985 when it hosts Seton Hall (7-21, 2-15) on Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
St. John’s is 31-5 since blowing a 19-point lead and taking a 68-62 loss to Seton Hall, which was able to win the game thanks to Kadary Richmond’s 18 points and 11 rebounds. A few months later, Richmond transferred to St. John’s and is among the reasons the Red Storm are in a position to clinch the conference title.
The Red Storm originally were scheduled to play the game in their on-campus arena, but the demand for tickets necessitated a venue change. They are attempting to finish 18-0 at home this season; 12 of those wins have come by double digits.
“I think the Garden is going to be amazing,” said St. John’s leading scorer, RJ Luis Jr. “Seton Hall is going to try to play its best game against us. We have to defend our house, like we’ve been doing all season. Me and the team, we want to stay undefeated at home.”
The Red Storm, whose five losses since Pitino’s comments are by a combined 12 points, have won four straight since a two-point loss at Villanova on Feb. 12. St. John’s followed a 14-point win over UConn on Feb. 23 by earning a 76-70 victory at Butler on Wednesday.
Luis scored 24 points after finishing with 14 following a one-game absence due to a groin injury. He added 13 points and has shot at least 50 percent in 13 games this season.
The Red Storm rolled to a 79-51 win they last met Seton Hall in Newark, N.J., on Jan. 18. They held Seton Hall to 16 points on 4-of-30 shooting from the field in the opening 20 minutes and moved into first place in the Big East. Richmond scored 13 points against the team he played 94 games with over the previous three seasons.
“I wish it was anybody else,” Richmond said this week. “I did a lot of good things over there. I’ve got a lot of good relationships with some of the players still. So celebrating in front of them and all that stuff wouldn’t probably be on my ‘to-do list,’ but it will be done.”
In the wake of Richmond’s departure, Seton Hall is finishing its first season with at least 20 losses since it went 6-23 in 1982-83.
The Pirates scored under 70 points for the 11th straight time when they squandered a 16-point lead in the second half of a 59-54 home loss to Villanova on Wednesday. Seton Hall held a 12-point halftime lead but shot 24.1 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes and 36.4 percent overall, marking the 15th time it shot under 40 percent this season.
Former St. John’s forward Dylan Addae-Wusu scored 16 of his 18 points by halftime and went 1 of 8 from the field in the second half. Leading scorer Isaiah Coleman added 12 points but hit 4 of 15 shots and is shooting just 38.2 percent for the season.
“We ran out of gas,” Pirates coach Shaheen Holloway said. “It’s tough when you don’t have a lot of guards. Those guys got to be able to press and sustain it. Then you get kind of gassed and you don’t have a deep bench.”
Seton Hall’s lack of depth is being stretched even thinner due to missing Chaunce Jenkins with a knee injury for the past 10 games. He likely will be out again against St. John’s.
–Field Level Media
