St. John's second season under Rick Pitino features eight games at MSG
St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino looks on in the first half of a Big East men’s basketball game against the Georgetown Hoyas at Madison Square Garden on March 9. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
St. John’s will play eight games at Madison Square Garden this season, including seven against Big East opponents, according to a schedule released by the Big East on Thursday.
The Red Storm opens its second season under coach Rick Pitino on Nov. 4 against Fordham at Carnesecca Arena and makes its Garden debut in a Nov. 17 non-conference meeting against New Mexico and coach Richard Pitino, Rick’s son.
Its conference opener is on campus against DePaul Dec. 17, and its first Big East game at the Garden is Jan. 11 against Villanova. The Storm’s other Big East games at the Garden are against Georgetown (Jan. 14) , Xavier (Jan. 22), Providence (Feb. 1), Marquette (Feb. 4), Creighton (Feb. 16), UConn (Feb. 23) and Seton Hall (March 1).
St. John’s Big East games against Butler and Seton Hall will be played at Carnesecca Arena on Jan. 4 and March 1, respectively. The Butler game is designated to be a celebration of Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca’s 100th birthday, which comes the following day.
Unlike last season, St. John’s is not playing games at UBS Arena or Barclays Center, where attendance was poorer than anticipated.
The St. John’s schedule includes a pair of stretches that could be critical in shaping how the Storm is viewed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee, which bypassed them last season.
They play three games against potential NCAA Tournament teams in the Bahamas Nov. 21, 22 and 24. The first two are in the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship and the first game is a semifinal against Baylor, which could debut in the Top 10 when the AP preseason poll is released. The Bears feature VJ Edgecombe from Long Island Lutheran, who was Newsday’s 2023 and 2024 Long Island Player of the Year. The Storm’s second game will be against Virginia or Tennessee. The last game in the Bahamas is a standalone game against Georgia.
February begins with a stretch of five straight games against strong Big East foes, starting with the Garden dates against Providence and Marquette. Those are followed by road games against two-time defending NCAA champion UConn and Villanova before St. John’s is back at the Garden against Creighton.
The Big East Tournament will be held March 12-15 at the Garden.
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.
