No. 20 St. John’s atop Big East and looking to end drought in 2nd season under Rick Pitino

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NEW YORK — In his second season on the job, Rick Pitino is at it again.

This time, the Hall of Fame coach has St. John’s evoking the glory days in Queens decades ago.

Riding the program’s best start in 39 years, the 20th-ranked Red Storm (17-3, 8-1 Big East) regained sole possession of first place in the Big East standings by rallying past Xavier 79-71 in overtime.

St. John’s hasn’t won even a share of the regular-season conference crown since 1992. That was the final season on the sidelines for iconic coach Lou Carnesecca, who died Nov. 30 just a few weeks shy of his 100th birthday.

“We’re bringing St. John’s back to where it needs to be,” Pitino said. “It’s a shame Lou is not alive. He’d be very proud of this team, the way they fight.”

The drought is the longest in Big East history — of course, several schools exited without any conference titles at all before spending anywhere near 33 years in the league.

Butler and DePaul are the only current members without a regular-season championship, but both joined the conference this century. Every other charter member of the Big East, which began play in 1979-80, has won at least one regular-season title since the most recent of five captured by the Johnnies under Carnesecca.

Led by RJ Luis Jr., Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond, this St. John’s squad is off to the school’s best start since opening 20-2 in 1985-86, when a team that finished 31-5 earned the program’s third No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in a four-year span.

The Red Storm are 8-1 in the Big East for the first time since 1999, a squad that reached the Elite Eight under coach Mike Jarvis. The program fell on hard times soon after, however, and the Johnnies haven’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2000. They’re looking for their first March Madness bid in six years.

“The most important thing for us is to keep improving and keep winning,” Pitino said. “We cannot take losses. It’s a non-negotiable thing for us, and that’s the…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/no-20-st-john-atop-160740437.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2025-01-23 16:07:00

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