NEW YORK — An aggressive, hounding defense. Bully ball on the offensive end. A Hall of Fame coach walking the sideline. Chants of “Let’s go, Johnnies!” filling Madison Square Garden in the final minute of No. 12 St. John’s 70-64 win over No. 11 Marquette.
For a basketball program desperate to return to relevance — and win its first Big East regular-season championship since 1992 — it was hard to escape the feeling that Tuesday night was a turning point.
There have been false dawns for St. John’s basketball before, but this season’s Red Storm have won nine games in a row and 15 of their past 16, and they sit atop the Big East standings at 11-1.
And now they have the statement win they’ve been looking for all season.
“You guys can see it now,” St. John’s forward RJ Luis Jr. said. “We’re a very hungry group, and we’re very determined to win. We came out tonight, came out fighting, and was able to get the tough win versus a very good Marquette team.”
It was just about one year ago when coach Rick Pitino walked into the news conference following St. John’s eighth loss in 10 games, a 68-62 defeat to Seton Hall after leading by 19 points, and lamented his team’s lack of toughness and athleticism.
“If I said I was disappointed, that would be the understatement of the year,” he said last February. “Our lateral quickness and our toughness is just something I’ve never witnessed in all my years of coaching.”
Twelve months and a revamped roster later, and St. John’s has one of the elite defenses in college basketball, ranking in the top five nationally in adjusted efficiency per KenPom. The team’s effort at that end of the floor has been at the heart of its success, and that was again the case Tuesday.
Despite not shooting well from the 3-point line (3-for-16) or the free throw line (17-for-31), St. John’s held Marquette to 0.95 points per possession — the Golden Eagles’ second-worst offensive performance of the campaign.
There was no possession more evident of the Red Storm’s commitment on defense than after St. John’s took a 66-59 lead in the final two minutes. Marquette needed to come down and score quickly to cut the lead, but the Golden Eagles simply couldn’t get a look at the basket. They dribbled around for 25 seconds before Kadary Richmond blocked a 3-point attempt into the stands with 1:11 remaining.
“I thought all the guys played great defense,” Pitino said. “They help each other, they switch. This is a relentless defensive team, and you see it all the time. … This is a relentless group. A relentless group that’s totally bought into stopping every play.”
St. John’s withstood early shooting woes by attacking the offensive glass. At one point late in the first half, Marquette had made five 3s to the Red Storm’s 0. But St. John’s countered that by grabbing 11 offensive rebounds to Marquette’s 0, resulting in seven second-chance points.
“I thought they played with incredible violence,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “They were just the more aggressive team for the majority of the game.”
Stingy defense and offensive rebounding have been part of the Red Storm’s identity all season, but lately the reemergence of Richmond has given them an added dimension on offense.
Richmond, the No. 1 player in the transfer portal last spring after leaving Seton Hall, hadn’t quite reached the same heights at St. John’s through the first 2½ months of the season. But he had 24 points — including the game winner — 8 rebounds and 8 assists against Providence on Saturday, and he finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists on Tuesday.
“He’s a humble superstar. And I’ll tell you, in this day and age, you don’t get Kadary Richmonds anymore,” Pitino said. “Kadary has been a joy to coach. A humble, hard-working guy who’s getting better at his age, he’s like a fine wine. He’s just getting better and he’s just a great teammate. He doesn’t look for credit, he doesn’t look for praise. He makes a mistake, he goes, ‘It’s on me.’ I wish they would all act like that, but he’s a pro. He’s a professional. He acts that way. So, I’m very lucky to have him.”
As the final seconds ticked off the clock, “We want UConn!” chants rang out from certain corners of the Garden. St. John’s heads to Storrs to face UConn on Friday night, another game for the Red Storm to lay down a marker in their quest for a conference title.
But Pitino wasn’t interested in giving the Huskies any bulletin board material. When asked after the game for his thoughts on the chants about the two-time reigning national champions, the coach was succinct:
“I think they’re drunk.”
