Four takeaways and best plays from St. John’s men’s basketball’s Big East Tournament title run

Tim Ferguson gives his four takeaways and recaps some of the best moments from the Red Storm’s first Big East Tournament title run in 25 years

Thursday, March 13, 2025: (1) St. John’s routs (9) Butler in the Big East quarterfinal, 78-67

There was no drama in the quarterfinal as St. John’s jumped out to an 18-3 lead and never looked back with 12:29 left in the first half. Rick Pitino used his bench substantially, giving them experience and offering rest to his starters in preparation for two challenging games in the next two days. The strategy was successful. One fact to note is this. RJ Luis, known for scoring, was assigned to cover Butler’s top scorer, Pierre Brooks. He held him scoreless for most of the first half when the Johnnies distanced themselves from the Bulldogs. Brooks, who averaged 15.5 points per game entering Thursday, was held to five points.

Favorite plays from the Big East Tournament quarterfinal

With 5:25 to play in the first half, Lefteris Liotopoulos with the ball, pump faked, stepped to the left, and drilled a fifteen-footer. Then, a minute and a half later, he stole a lazy Butler inbounds pass and drove into their basket for a layup for a 33 to 21 lead.

With fifteen and a half to play in the second half, an Aaron Scott steal triggered a fast break. Scott passed to Smith, who pushed the ball down the court. Smith saw Luis streaking towards the basket and hit him with a leading pass, which Luis converted into a layup.

Friday, March 14, 2025: (1) St. John’s rallies against (5) Marquette, 79-63

St. John’s started completely differently from their lightning-quick start in Thursday’s quarterfinal. Against a quick Marquette Golden Eagle team, the Johnnies started slowly. Marquette, led by first-team Big East backcourt player Kam Jones, jumped out to a 24-9 lead at the 12:42 mark of the half. Jones scored ten points as the Golden Eagles’ offense seemed unstoppable.

After Aaron Scott hit a three from the right corner, assisted by Zuby Ejiofor, the Johnnies began to fight back. It was slow but sure, and a dunk by RJ Luis at the 6:45 mark cut the deficit to one. At halftime, the Johnnies were down by two. Fans in the stands expressed confidence that the Johnnies would respond positively in the second half.

A Jones jumper extended the Marquette lead to four, 39-35, thirty seconds into the second half. But that would be the largest Golden Eagle lead of the half. Behind Zuby Ejiofor’s 33-point effort, the Johnnies took control and coated to a 79-63 victory, holding high-scoring Marquette to 26 points in the second half.

Favorite plays from the Big East Tournament semifinal

Luis’ dunk, which cut the Marquette lead to one in the first half, was a team effort. Kadary Richmond stole the ball from David Joplin of Marquette. An upcourt pass to Sadiku Ibine Ayo pushed the fast break. Ayo made a quick pass to Luis in the paint for a dunk, bringing the Red Storm to a point behind.

With the Johnnies down by one with sixteen minutes to play, two plays, twenty seconds apart, got the team going. First, Luis found Scott cutting under the basket right to the left. Instead of putting up a challenging shot, Scott dished to an open Wilcher in the left corner, who drilled a fifteen-footer. After Stevie Mitchell of Marquette missed a three, Wilcher pushed the ball downcourt and hit Scott on the right wing for a three and a 51-45 lead.

Saturday, March 15, 2025: (1) St. John’s tops (2) Creighton, 82-66

Johnnies fans were loud from the opening jump, and a well-prepared Creighton team ran plays over the first four minutes to take a 10-2 lead. Johnnies fans expressed both concern and confidence at the same time.

An unexpected first-half hero emerged. Reserve forward Sadiku Ibine Ayo hit two three-pointers as the Johnnies, like the day before, clawed their way back into the game. St. John’s were down by three points at the half, 28-25.

Creighton maintained a lead for the first five minutes of the second half. However, it was a different Red Storm team after Kadary Richmond returned to the game with 14:38 to go. Richmond started pushing the pace. A three-pointer by Luis tied the game. Creighton regained the lead, and the two teams jostled back and forth with playing ahead until the nine-minute mark after Steven Ashworth made two technical free throws on a questionable call on Luis for celebrating a three-point basket.

A 20-5 run by the Johnnies iced the game and the first Big East Tournament Championship for the Red Storm in 25 years.

One notable statistic was the Johnnies’ baseline defense overwhelmed Creighton on their inbound plays o the point that the Bluejays were called for three separate five-second violations.

Favorite play from the Championship

After an official TV timeout at 10:21, Kadary Richmond swung a cross-court pass to Deivon Smith on the right wing. Smith cut inside and handed the ball off to RJ Luis for a layup over the top of seven-foot-one Ryan Kalkbrenner, who had dominated defending the lower box throughout most of the game.

Takeaway #1: The Red Storm constantly adjusted

There are some obvious takeaways, such as the outstanding performances of RJ Luis, Zuby Ejiofor, and Kadary Richmond. For this publication of Takeaways from the tournament, we will explore some less talked about takeaways.

During the two challenging games against Marquette in the Semifinals and Creighton in the Finals, the Red Storm were able to make effective adjustments. Two factors are in play when successful adjustments are made.

• The first is the coaching staff’s extensive preparation so that players, knowing opponents’ strengths and weaknesses, can practice against them and do not have to be taught what to do when adjustments are needed – they already have actions to be drilled into them.
• The second is the expertise of the coaching staff in learning what tendencies opponents bring to the game and teaching these effectively to Red Storm players. Practices are less effective if the staff does not have accurate information about coming opponents’ tendencies. Coach Pitino has advised that he feels he has one of the best staffs in college basketball in this regard.

Challenges ahead are real in the NCAA tournament. There is less time to scout and even less time to adjust as needed per the scouting reports, particularly for the second games in the first and second week of the tournament. For planning on defense, the Johnnies’ overall scheme will make adjustments “on the fly” more easily than opponents due to the Red Storm’s Oklahoma City Thunder-like defensive model. It has led to a ranking as the number one defense in the country.

Takeaway #2: St. John’s kept their cool under pressure

TV-watching fans shared with me that the team seems never to become overstressed. Even watching on television has led fans to note the team’s “do Business” attitude. The players are close and supportive of one another. When they hear Coach Pitino yelling at them for mental mistakes, they take it as constructive criticism. They also find him very supportive. Zuby is described as a calming and positive captain throughout the game, regardless of its flow. High scorers Zuby and RJ often recognize and thank their teammates for making their success possible with their adept passing.

Takeaway #3: The Red Storm is ready to play up-tempo.

St. John’s has been cutting back on turnovers. In their three Big East Tournament games, the Red Storm only coughed up 9.7 turnovers per game, while opposing teams averaged 14.3 per game.

The team talks about improving with every practice. It is reasonable to assume that this work ethic, that brings this about, will continue throughout the playoffs and enhance their uptempo offensive performance under which the team thrives. More specifically, it is noted that when Kadary Richmond returned to the game at the 14:38 mark of the second half with Creighton leading 38-35, it seemed clear that he entered the game with instructions to push the tempo. The result was the Johnnies playing their best 15 minutes of the season, outscoring Creighton to the tune of 47-28 in the second half.

Coach Pitino has said all season long that the offensive performance has been dragging behind the defenders’ success. With more expected improvement, fans can have confidence that the Johnnies will continue a performance similar to the ends of both the Marquette and Creighton games into the tournament.

Takeaway #4: Simeon Wilcher and the bench unit

Scott, Richmond, Ejiofor, and Luis are playing their roles with consistency and determination. Smith continues to play defense and handles the ball well. A return to his shooting prowess would be a welcome addition. It might be a surprise for opponents who only scout Smith’s play over the past two months if he returns to early season form, getting fully past his injury. He appears determined, citing, “This is my last season. I want to make a contribution.”

Wilcher is doing better defensively but sometimes is tentative with his shot. However, he seems to be gaining confidence. He is a key factor in providing outside shooting when opposing teams collapse under the basket.

Iwuchukwu had two spectacular plays in the Creighton game that indicate his promising potential. The block of the Kalkbrenner and the hook over the Creighton star brought a loud, standing ovation from the crowd.

Ayo was surprisingly effective in the Quarterfinal and Championship games, particularly his two three-pointers in the first half of the finals. His second three almost erased the deficit the Johnnies had found themselves in at the game’s onset. In the three games Ayo played, he made three threes in five attempts while playing his usual stellar defense.

If you watch the Red Storm warmups, you will note that the best healthy three-point shooter on the team is Lefteris Liotopoulos.

Outlook

The challenges are significant, and some analysts expect the West to be the most challenging region in the bracket, with other contenders Florida, Texas Tech, and Maryland joining the Red Storm. If the Johnnies get by Omaha, which they should, they get a date on March 23 with either Bill Self-led Kansas or John Calipari-led Arkansas. Quite the weekend ahead.

With the big four playing near their peak and reserves starting to emerge late in the season, traveling Red Storm could be rewarded with seeing not just their first NCAA tournament win in 25 years but their first trip to the second weekend of the tournament this millennium.