When New York City-born and Long Island-raised Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino was hired in March 2023 to lead the St. John’s Red Storm men’s basketball program, expectations were high. After the nationally ranked No. 12 Red Storm defeated the No. 11 Marquette at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday in front of a raucous crowd of 16,521 for their eighth-straight win, it’s safe to say those expectations are being met.
The win placed St. John’s atop the Big East Conference at 11-1 and 20-3 overall, and it was their first victory in a top-15 matchup since 1991. The Red Storm have not won a Big East regular season championship since 1992. Marquette dipped to third in the conference at 9-3 and 18-5 overall.
South Shore High School product Kadary Richmond, a fifth-year, 6-6 senior guard from Brooklyn who attended Syracuse and Seton Hall prior to transferring to St. John’s, scored a game-high 18 points, and added 11 rebounds and eight assists. RJ Luis Jr., a 6-7 junior guard from Miami, Florida, had 17 points and 11 boards, and 6-9 junior forward Zuby Ejiofor from Garland, Texas, posted 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Red Storm.
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“You come in at halftime, and they’re [Marquette] shooting 56% from the field, 50% from the three, and you’re probably down 14 to 16 points, and [yet] you’re down one,” Pitino said of the team’s 31-30 deficit after 20 minutes of play.
“This is a very unique team,” Pitino added. “They deny statistical data. They just defy all statistical data almost every single game. Their effort level, though, is so incredibly high. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen something like this effort level wise, [a] long time. Real proud of that. Great win, great team that we beat.
“You know, we shoot 17 of 31 from the foul line, but we get 50 rebounds versus a hell of a basketball team that just play so hard. As a coach, I can’t appreciate [them] any more than this. I’m so full of gratitude to see players play this hard. It’s exciting.”
The blanketing defense of the Red Storm suggests they could make a deep run in the postseason. They are top 20 in the nation in field goal percentage allowed, holding teams to only 39.4% before Tuesday’s game.
Pitino said the team studies the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, the league’s best defensive unit, and have incorporated some of their concepts and principles. The results have been palpable for one of the country’s upward trending programs.
