Zuby Ejiofor got his wish.
Following last month’s 32-point loss to UConn, the St. John’s star left Huskies head coach Dan Hurley with a parting message.
“He muttered something like, ‘I’ll see you again, my man,’” Hurley said at the time on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.”
And in Saturday night’s Big East Tournament final, Ejiofor and No. 13 St. John’s avenged that defeat in the most emphatic of fashions.
St. John’s blew out No. 6 UConn, 72-52, at Madison Square Garden to win its second consecutive Big East Tournament championship.
Ejiofor was the driving force, erupting for 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, nine rebounds, seven blocks and three steals.
He tied for the team lead in scoring and rebounds while anchoring a defense that forced 17 turnovers and held UConn without a field goal for the final 8:03.
“We’ve had a target on our backs, and we had to battle through adversity all season,” Ejiofor said. “And these guys, they earned it.”
Four days after he was named the unanimous Big East Player of the Year, Ejiofor was crowned the conference tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. He averaged 19.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game in wins over Providence, Seton Hall and UConn.
Bryce Hopkins scored 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting with five rebounds in Saturday’s win, while Dillon Mitchell contributed nine points and nine rebounds. Both were named to the Big East’s All-Tournament Team.
It all added up to the fifth Big East Tournament championship in St. John’s history. This is the first time the program has won back-to-back Big East Tournament titles.
“There’s so much history with St. John’s,” head coach Rick Pitino said, “and we brought it all back.”
Saturday’s rematch was practically inevitable after the top-seeded Red Storm (28-6) and second-seeded Huskies (29-5) reigned as the conference’s top dogs all season.
St. John’s won the Big East regular-season championship with an 18-2 record in conference play, narrowly eclipsing the Huskies’ 17-3 mark.
The rivals split their regular-season series, with St. John’s beating UConn, 81-72, at the Garden on Feb. 6, and the Huskies returning the favor with that 72-40 rout in Hartford on Feb. 25.
St. John’s missed its final 24 shots in that blowout loss, going the last 17:28 without making a field goal. The 32-point margin of victory was UConn’s largest ever against St. John’s.
“We never mentioned revenge, because we have so much respect for Connecticut,” Pitino said. “We just talked about [the] championship.”
Saturday’s game started in a dramatically different manner than how the last one finished.
St. John’s made its first three shots, beginning with a tone-setting jumper by Ejiofor on the opening possession.
The Red Storm started the game on a 10-0 run, with Oziyah Sellers scoring six of those points.
And St. John’s delivered smothering defense to match the hot offensive start. Before the Huskies made their first field goal, St. John’s forced two misses late in the shot clock; a five-second violation; and an offensive foul on star UConn center Tarris Reed Jr.
“They just really jumped us to start the game,” Hurley said. “I think we knew that it would be a very forceful response from them, and we just weren’t able to match it.”
St. John’s opened its lead up to 47-29 early in the second half, but the Huskies had a run in the them.
After going scoreless in the first half, UConn freshman Braylon Mullins — a potential NBA lottery pick — scored five quick points, including a 3-pointer that made it a 47-36 game with 15:57 remaining.
Three more baskets by Reed cut the UConn deficit to 49-42 with less than 13 minutes to go.
“I had to waste a timeout, which infuriated me,” Pitino said. “I said to them, ‘You are fatiguing. Don’t let this clock run out. You’ve got to keep the pressure on them offensively. Johnnies don’t get tired.’”
That message clicked, as Hopkins drilled a jumper out of the timeout. After a Dylan Darling steal on the other end, Ejiofor hit a 3-pointer to boost the Red Storm’s lead back up 12.
The biggest highlight came with about nine minutes left, when Ejiofor blocked Silas Demary Jr. at the rim, leading to a Mitchell windmill dunk in transition. Darling then scored on three straight possessions as St. John’s pulled away.
“We had to be resilient to come out with a win like this,” Ejiofor said.
Saturday’s victory completed a Big East Tournament run in which St. John’s never trailed. It opened all three games on runs of 8-0 or better.
When St. John’s hired Pitino in 2023, the Huskies were the Big East’s undisputed heavyweights. UConn maintained that billing in Pitino’s first year, winning the conference’s regular-season and conference-tournament championships in 2024 — along with its second straight national championship.
But the Big East has belonged to St. John’s ever since.
This is the second year in a row the Red Storm won both the conference’s outright regular-season and conference-tournament crowns.
They did it this year with a new roster, as Ejiofor was the only returning starter. Newcomers Hopkins, Mitchell, Sellers and Darling all contributed Saturday.
“The first [Big East Tournament championship] was truly special. Obviously, it was the first time that I experienced winning at such a high level,” Ejiofor said. “But this second time … it was more so about the new guys that came in. I wanted to win for them. I wanted them to feel the thrill of winning a championship here in MSG. And we accomplished that goal.”
St. John’s now looks to embark on a deeper NCAA Tournament run than last year, when it was a No. 2 seed but eliminated in the second round.
The Red Storm will learn their seed and first-round draw on Sunday evening.
“It’s just so rewarding that all the work we put in [during] the summer, and all the long days, the long nights, the ups and downs, it paid off,” Hopkins said. “We’re not done yet.”