St. John’s clinches first outright Big East regular-season title since 1985 with win vs. Seton Hall at MSG

Led by its throwback style of play and an old-school coach in 72-year-old Rick Pitino who dressed to the nines in an all-white suit for the occasion, No. 7 St. John’s on Saturday claimed its first outright Big East regular-season title since 1985 with a 71-61 win over Seton Hall.

The Red Storm grinded out the win inside Madison Square Garden in typical fashion with defense and physicality, holding the visiting Pirates to 2-of-11 shooting from 3-point range and forcing 13 turnovers in the effort. The victory gave them a second-ever outright Big East regular-season title and a 17th win in conference play, tying for the most in program history since 1938-39.

St. John’s Big East titles 

RJ Luis Jr. led St. John’s both in points (21) and in highlight plays (too many to count) in the victory. Fellow junior Zuby Ejiofor had 17 points and 10 rebounds. 

Luis was held to seven points in the second half but set the tone for the game out of the gate with 14 first-half points. That included resounding rim-rockers to get the Johnnies their first and last points of the first half.

Here’s the first:

And here’s the second:

In Pitino’s second season leading the program, St. John’s has now collected 46 wins across 2023-24 and 2024-25 — the most in a two-year span since 1999-2000 — with one regular-season game, the Big East tournament and the NCAA Tournament still to be played.

The way they have won has been textbook Pitino with defense and a veer away from relying on 3-pointers even as basketball has more broadly accepted and leaned into firing from distance. Following the win the Johnnies rank No. 3 in adjusted defensive efficiency at KenPom.com and have the second worst 3-point percentage and second-lowest 3-point rate among major conference teams. 

“This is a very unique team,” Pitino said in early February after beating Marquette. “They defy statistical data almost every single game.”

St. John’s has one regular-season game remaining with a road trip next Saturday vs. Marquette on tap before Big East Tournament play.