St. John's-UConn rivalry moving toward center stage once again
St. John's Daniss Jenkins (5) keeps the ball away from UConn's Tristen Newton (2) during the first half on Dec. 23, 2023, in Hartford. Credit: AP/Michael Dwyer
The game between St. John’s and Connecticut in Hartford last month was hotly contested and things have continued to simmer between the two programs, even after the final buzzer on the fourth-ranked Huskies’ four-point win.
Rick Pitino and UConn coach Dan Hurley have since each said things that seem to provoke the other. It started with Pitino saying that the Huskies would be the only Big East game played on campus at Carnesecca Arena in 2024-25 and escalated with Hurley suggesting St. John’s envied their success and gaining a competitive advantage was the motivation.
It was there again on Tuesday as the Red Storm (11-4, 3-1 Big East) prepared to meet Providence (11-4, 2-2) on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in their first Big East game at Madison Square Garden this season. St. John’s is off to its best start in conference play since 2010-11. The Friars last week lost Bryce Hopkins to a season-ending knee injury, dropped a pair of games and fell out of the national rankings.
Pitino confirmed that St. John’s administrators had petitioned the Big East — which will have the final say on where next season’s game is played — to play UConn on campus as part of a celebration of Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca’s 100th birthday.
“We want to honor Looie with a big game when he turns 100,” Pitino said. “Whether it’s Connecticut, Villanova, Georgetown — we want it to be a champion team — and certainly Connecticut and Villanova are two elite champions.
“I don’t think Connecticut knows how to take a compliment,” Pitino added. “It’s not a slight when I said I want to play them in Carnesecca because they’re the poster child for what’s great right now in the Big East.”
He also said that if the Big East wouldn’t allow a high-profile conference game like that to be played on campus, St. John’s would seek a “gigantic” non-conference opponent to replace UConn.
This season’s New York meeting already is on the slate for Feb. 3 at MSG.
Pitino put a burr under the saddle of Hurley and the UConn fans when asked about venues following the Dec. 30 win over Hofstra at UBS Arena. He replied, “The Garden is the best place to play, and right now the only game that’s going to be played next year at Carnesecca [Arena] is Connecticut.”
“It’s no joke — I have my reasons,” he replied to a follow-up.
Told about this, and following a collective howl from UConn fans on social media, Hurley said, “Everyone’s trying to get what we have. We’ve won four national championships since 2000 here at UConn. They haven’t had much success since then . . . . They’re trying to do what they need to do to build their program up.”
The Garden has often played like a home venue the way Huskies fans travel. Nahiem Alleyne experienced it firsthand playing for UConn last season. “It’s just electric feeling,” he said. “When the Garden’s behind you, just feel like you can do anything out there. You just have all the energy in the world.”
St. John’s players will be looking to get that lift as they did in better days, though Pitino was asked what he anticipated for Wednesday’s game against the Friars and answered, “Right now it’s not very good.”
“You have two decades of missing fans that you have to recapture,” he added, “and it takes time, it takes patience.”
Injury update
Chris Ledlum’s availability will be a game-time decision. An ankle sprain suffered in the loss to UConn has forced him to miss two of the past three games, including Saturday at Villanova. Asked for an update before Tuesday’s practice, Pitino replied, “He hasn’t practiced yet so I’d say it’s doubtful. We’ll see today if he’s able to practice.”
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.
