January 20, 2026; New York, New York, USA; St. John’s Red Storm forward Dylan Mitchell (1) cheers for Seton Hall Pirates guard AJ Staten-McCray (14) during the second half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images No. 18 St. St. John’s is on the verge of winning at least a share of the Big East Conference regular season title.
Seton Hall’s improvement over last season was so drastic that it earned a bye in next week’s Big East Tournament and is looking for a signature win to cement its bubble status in the NCAA Tournament.
Everything is on the agenda Friday night when local rivals meet in the regular season finale in Newark, New Jersey.
St. John’s (24-6, 17-2 Big East) concludes the regular season before No. 4 UConn (27-3, 17-2) faces Marquette on Saturday. If the Red Storm and Huskies end up tied, the Big East said the top seed will be determined by the NET rankings. As of Wednesday, UConn was ranked 8th and St. Louis ranked 8th. St. John’s ranked 22nd.
“It would mean everything,” center Zuby Ejiofor said after scoring 23 points to help the Red Storm overcome a 12-point second-half deficit in a 72-69 win over Georgetown on Tuesday.
“We put our heart and soul into every day, every practice, every game,” Ejiofor said. “More than anything, I want the guys to experience that moment of winning a championship because they deserve it. That’s what they came here for. They came here for a reason. They came here to win big.”
St. John’s won the regular season championship for the sixth time in school history and the first since 1984-85 and 1985-86 in back-to-back seasons.
The Red Storm posted a lopsided win over Villanova at UConn on Feb. 25 before coming back from a crushing 32-point loss against Georgetown.
In the final 14:08, St. Paul’s led the way with Joson Sanon scoring all 15 of his points in the period. St. John’s outshot the Hoyas 36-21. Dylan Darling added 12 points, including a game-tying layup after a steal with 6:43 left.
“We had to really dig deep, and that’s what good basketball teams do,” St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said. “We did a lot of good things in the first 10 minutes of the game to get the win.”
Seton Hall (20-10, 10-9), ranked last in the conference’s preseason poll, will sit in fourth place after going 2-18 in the Big East last season.
The Pirates are 0-3 against St. John’s and UConn this season, losing by a combined 14 points, including a 65-60 loss at St. John’s on Jan. 20 when Seton Hall lost a 15-point second-half lead.
The Pirates are 4-2 in their last six games. Seton Hall bounced back from a four-point loss at UConn last weekend with a 77-68 win over Xavier. Adam Clark scored 16 points despite suffering a quad injury, according to coach Shaheen Holloway.
“It’s definitely a good achievement, but there’s still a lot of work to be done,” Holloway said in a radio interview after the game. “We’re fighting for something. Like I tell these guys: Nothing else matters right now other than Friday night. It’s about making sure our seniors get good results.”
–Field level media
