Three takeaways from St. John's Big East Tournament semifinal win over Marquette
St. John’s turned in a stellar defensive performance and Zuby Ejiofor scored a career-high 33 points as the sixth-ranked and top-seeded Red Storm posted a 79-63 victory over 25th-ranked and fifth-seeded Marquette in a Big East Tournament semifinal before a sellout crowd of 19,812 on Friday night.
The Red Storm (29-4) held the Golden Eagles (23-10) to 1-for-12 shooting from outside the three-point arc in the second half to make up for their 13 missed three-pointers and seven missed free throws, including the front end of two one-and-ones in the second half.
St. John’s will play in its sixth Big East Tournament title game and first since it won the championship in 2000. The Red Storm will be vying for their fourth conference tournament title when they meet second-seeded Creighton (24-9) which defeated Connecticut (23-10) in the late semifinal, 71-62.
Here are three takeaways from the Red Storm’s victory:
1. This is the rubber match with Creighton
St. John’s has lost only four games by a total of seven points, and one of those defeats was a 57-56 heartbreaker to the Bluejays on Dec. 31 in Omaha. The Red Storm won the rematch, 79-73, at the Garden on Feb. 16. Creighton’s star big man, 7-1 all-Big East first-teamer and conference Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Kalkbrenner, missed about five minutes in the late going with a foot injury in the second meeting.
Kalkbrenner averaged 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds and point guard Steven Ashworth averaged 20.5 points and 10.5 assists in the two games against the Red Storm. Those two scored 12 points each Friday against UConn.
“Obviously, we have great respect for St. John's,” Bluejays coach Greg McDermott said. “They were able to take us out of a lot of what we wanted to do when we were here a month or so ago. They just come at you in waves, and they wear into you with their tenacity and the physical nature of their play. I told our guys to go to sleep thinking about ball security and box-outs because that's the game.”
2. St. John’s may be playing for a No. 2 NCAA Tournament seeding
Going into Championship Week, St. John’s looked as if it would get nothing lower than a No. 3 seeding when the field is announced on Selection Sunday. The teams that appeared to be potentially in the way of the Red Storm earning a No. 2 were Texas Tech and Texas A&M.
Texas A&M was upset by 13th-seeded Texas in the second round of the SEC Tournament. Texas Tech lost to Arizona in a semifinal of the Big 12 Tournament.
St. John’s picked up its sixth Quad I victory with the defeat of Marquette and can gain a seventh on Saturday night.
3. The Storm have another historic opportunity
Already this season St. John’s has done things it hadn’t done in decades, and the Big East Tournament title game is a chance for another.
St. John’s won its first outright conference regular-season title in 40 years, has recorded the most victories since it won 28 games 26 years ago and reached its highest national ranking in 34 years.
If the Red Storm beat Creighton on Saturday night, they will be the Big East Tournament champion for the first time in 25 years. They also would record a 30th win for the first time since the 1985-86 season, when St. John's went 31-5.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
