No. 18 St. John’s is on the verge of clinching at least a share of the Big East Conference regular-season title.
Seton Hall’s improvement is so drastic from last season that it earned a bye in next week’s Big East tournament and is seeking a signature win to enhance its bubble status for the NCAA tournament.
All that is on the agenda Friday night when the regional rivals meet in the regular-season finale in Newark, N.J.
St. John’s (24-6, 17-2 Big East) will end the regular season before No. 4 UConn (27-3, 17-2) faces Marquette on Saturday. If the Red Storm and Huskies finish tied, the Big East said the NET ranking will determine the top seed. As of Wednesday, UConn was No. 8 and St. John’s was No. 22.
“It would mean everything,” center Zuby Ejiofor said after scoring 23 points to help the Red Storm overcome a 12-point deficit in the second half in Tuesday’s 72-69 win over Georgetown.
“We’ve put our heart and soul into every day, every practice, every game,” Ejiofor said. “More than anything, I want the guys to experience that moment of winning a championship because they deserve it. That’s what they came here for. They came here for a reason. They came here to win big.”
St. John’s can clinch a share of the regular-season title for the sixth time in school history and the first time in consecutive seasons since 1984-85 and 1985-86.
The Red Storm have followed up their humbling 32-point loss at UConn on Feb. 25 with a lopsided win against Villanova and the comeback against Georgetown.
In the final 14:08, St. John’s outscored the Hoyas 36-21 as Joson Sanon scored all 15 of his points in that span. Dylan Darling added 12 points, including the tiebreaking layup after a steal with 6:43 left.
“We had to really dig deep … and that’s what it’s all about with a good basketball team, digging down,” St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said. “We did a lot of good things with 10 minutes to go in the game to come away with a victory.”
Picked last in the conference’s preseason poll, Seton Hall (20-10, 10-9) will finish fourth after going 2-18 in the Big East last season.
The Pirates are 0-3 this season against St. John’s and UConn with the losses by a combined 14 points, including a 65-60 loss at St. John’s when Seton Hall lost a 15-point lead in the second half on Jan. 20.
The Pirates are 4-2 in their past six games. Seton Hall rebounded from last weekend’s four-point loss at UConn with a 77-68 win at Xavier. Adam Clark scored 16, although he injured his quad, according to coach Shaheen Holloway.
“Obviously, it’s a good accomplishment, but there’s a lot of work still to be done,” Holloway said on his postgame radio interview. “We’re fighting for something. Like I told these guys: Nothing else matters right now except Friday night, making sure our seniors go out on a good note.”
