After Wednesday’s events that featured some help from its next opponent, the path to the top seed in the Big East tournament has become clear for No. 17 St. John’s.
In sole possession of the conference lead for the first time this season, the Red Storm attempt to push their winning streak to 13 games Saturday afternoon when they host Creighton at Madison Square Garden in New York in a rematch of last year’s Big East tournament final.
St. John’s (21-5, 14-1 Big East) enters its final five conference contests with a half-game lead over No. 5 UConn, which it visits next Wednesday in Hartford, Conn. The Red Storm own that slim lead because, before they earned a 76-70 win Wednesday night at Marquette, Creighton recorded a 91-84 upset at UConn.
“We still have to prepare the same way,” Red Storm forward Bryce Hopkins said after collecting 23 points and 10 rebounds. “We still have five tough games, and we got to take it one game at a time. One day at a time in practice. We can’t overlook any opponent, because it’s easy to let a game slip, so we just have to stay locked into every opponent and prepare the same way and practice.”
Hopkins led the Red Storm in scoring for the third time during their winning streak and his showing offset Zuby Ejiofor being held to 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting.
St. John’s is unbeaten since blowing a 13-point lead in its 77-71 home loss to Providence on Jan. 3. The Red Storm’s winning streak is the school’s longest since opening 2018-19 with 12 straight and its second longest ever in conference play behind the 14-game streak in the 1984-85 Final Four season.
The Red Storm have won seven games by 10 points or less during this streak and needed a big second half Wednesday to overcome a six-point deficit. St. John’s started the second half by getting outscored 21-6 — falling behind 56-50 with 11:55 to go — but ended the game with a 26-14 run.
“When momentum swung their way, my message to the guys was, ‘We’ve been here before,'” St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said after his team survived shooting 33.3% in the second half. “‘Don’t panic, we’ve been here before. We’re going to have our run.’ And they 100% didn’t panic, played like a veteran team.”
Creighton (14-13, 8-8) attempts to win consecutive games for the first time since its four-game winning streak from Dec. 17-30. The Bluejays allowed the Red Storm to shoot 50.8% in their 90-73 loss on Jan. 10 in Omaha but are coming off their first win over a ranked team this season in four tries.
Creighton bounced back from losses to DePaul and Villanova by topping 90 points for the sixth time and third time in conference play. At UConn, Josh Dix scored 13 of his season-high 21 points after halftime.
Dix reached double figures for the fourth straight game. He shot 50% from the field (23 of 46) and 11 of 24 from 3-point range in that span while also dealing with the recent death of his mother.
“We have been through a lot as a group. We’ve shed a lot of tears and they needed something like this,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “It’s a great win for us. I’m not sure I’ve ever been prouder of a group.”
Dix was not the only Blue Jay to reach a season high against UConn. Nik Graves added 18 after finishing with 15 last week against Villanova and junior guard Fedor Zugic contributed a career-high 14 in his first start.
