Zuby Ejiofor got his wish.<\/p>\n
Following last month\u2019s historic 72-40 loss to UConn, the St. John\u2019s star left Huskies head coach Dan Hurley with a parting message.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe muttered something like, \u2018I\u2019ll see you again, my man,\u2019\u201d Hurley said at the time on ESPN\u2019s \u201cSportsCenter.\u201d<\/p>\n
And in Saturday night\u2019s Big East Tournament final, Ejiofor and No. 13 St. John\u2019s avenged that defeat in the most emphatic of fashions.<\/p>\n
St. John\u2019s beat No. 6 UConn, 72-52, at Madison Square Garden to win its second consecutive Big East Tournament championship.<\/p>\n
Ejiofor erupted for 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, nine rebounds, seven blocks and three steals. He was named the tournament\u2019s Most Outstanding Player.<\/p>\n
Bryce Hopkins added 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and five rebounds.<\/p>\n
St. John\u2019s forced 17 turnovers and held UConn without a field goal over the final 8:03.<\/p>\n
This is the first time in program history that St. John\u2019s (28-6) has won back-to-back Big East Tournament championships. Saturday\u2019s conference-tournament title was the fifth in school history.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s rematch was practically inevitable after the top-seeded Red Storm and second-seeded Huskies (29-5) reigned as the conference\u2019s top dogs all season.<\/p>\n
St. John\u2019s won the Big East\u2019s regular-season championship with an 18-2 record in conference play, narrowly eclipsing the Huskies\u2019 17-3 mark.<\/p>\n
The rivals split their regular-season series, with St. Johns beating UConn, 81-72, at the Garden on Feb. 6 before the Huskies returned the favor with that 32-point rout in Hartford on Feb. 25.<\/p>\n
St. John\u2019s missed its last 24 shots in that blowout loss, going the final 17:28 without making a field goal. The 32-point margin of victory was UConn\u2019s largest ever against St. John\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve said that we weren\u2019t ourselves at all in that game,\u201d Hopkins told the Daily News ahead of Saturday\u2019s game. \u201cJust coming out and having another chance to play them, it\u2019s gonna be a different level of energy on our side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, Saturday\u2019s game could not have started more differently.<\/p>\n
St. John\u2019s made its first three shots, beginning with a tone-setting jumper by Ejiofor on the opening possession.<\/p>\n
The Red Storm began the game on a 10-0 run, with Oziyah Sellers scoring six of those points.<\/p>\n
And St. John\u2019s delivered smothering defense to match the hot offensive start. Before the Huskies made their first field goal, St. John\u2019s forced two misses late in the shot clock; a five-second violation; and an offensive foul on star UConn center Tarris Reed Jr.<\/p>\n
Even when the talent-laden Huskies got going offensively, steady St. John\u2019s kept them at arm\u2019s length.<\/p>\n
An alley-oop dunk by Ejiofor on a lob from Hopkins gave St. John\u2019s a 32-16 lead with 8:20 left before the half. Another alley-oop by Dillon Mitchell from Dylan Darling made it a 36-19 game about four minutes later.<\/p>\n
St. John\u2019s led, 40-27, at halftime after forcing 11 turnovers that turned into 15 points.<\/p>\n
That lead would grow to 47-29 early in the second half, but the Huskies had a run in them.<\/p>\n
After going scoreless in the first half, freshman Braylon Mullins \u2014 a potential NBA lottery pick \u2014 scored five quick points, including a 3-pointer that made it a 47-36 game with 15:57 remaining.<\/p>\n
Three baskets by Reed then cut the UConn deficit to 49-42 with less than 13 minutes to go.<\/p>\n
But Hopkins drilled a jumper coming out of a timeout, and after a Darling steal on the other end, Ejiofor hit a 3-pointer to boost the Red Storm\u2019s cushion back to 12.<\/p>\n
And with about nine minutes to go, Ejiofor delivered a huge block at the rim on Silas Demary Jr., leading to a transition windmill dunk by Mitchell to make it a 58-45 game.<\/p>\n
Darling scored on three straight possessions as St. John\u2019s pulled away.<\/p>\n
After dominating with 20 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks in the previous meeting, Reed led UConn with 17 points and seven rebounds on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s win completed a Big East Tournament run in which St. John\u2019s defeated Providence<\/a>, Seton Hall<\/a> and UConn without trailing in any game. It opened all three games on runs of 8-0 or better.<\/p>\n Before last year, St. John\u2019s had not won an outright Big East regular-season championship since 1985 or a Big East Tournament title since 2000.<\/p>\n The Huskies were the Big East\u2019s undisputed top dog when St. John\u2019s hired Rick Pitino in 2023, and they won the conference\u2019s regular-season and conference-tournament championships in 2024 \u2014 along with their second straight national championship.<\/p>\n But the Big East has belonged to St. John\u2019s ever since.<\/p>\n This is the second year in a row the Red Storm have won both the conference\u2019s outright regular-season and conference-tournament crowns.<\/p>\n They did it this year largely with a new roster, as Ejiofor was the only returning starter. Newcomers Hopkins, Mitchell, Sellers and Darling all loomed large Saturday.<\/p>\n St. John\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n