No. 7 St. John’s will look to extend its winning streak to four games on Wednesday night when the Red Storm travel to Indianapolis to take on Butler.
This is a key game for the entire Big East, as the Red Storm (24-4, 15-2) can clinch a share of the conference regular-season title with a victory. They also can do so with a Creighton loss to DePaul on Wednesday.
St. John’s, which has won 13 of its past 14 games, has not secured a share of the Big East title since 1992 and has not won the conference outright since 1985.
“We want this Big East crown badly,” coach Rick Pitino said. “Not only for the players but also for the fans who came back.”
The Red Storm are coming off one of their better wins of the season as they dominated UConn 89-75 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
The win allowed St. John’s to sweep UConn in the season series for the first time since 2000. It also improved the Red Storm to 17-0 at home.
“This was our best game offensively and defensively all season,” Pitino said. “I think they get better every day and every game.”
Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond each led the way with 18 points, with Ejiofor also collecting nine rebounds and six assists.
Butler (13-14, 6-10) is playing well as of late, having won four of its last five games, including an 84-72 victory on the road at DePaul on Saturday night.
Pierre Brooks recorded 24 points and seven rebounds for the Bulldogs, who closed the game on a 17-4 run.
Jahmyl Telfort boasts team-leading averages in points (16.1) and assists (3.5). Andre Screen leads down low with 6.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per night.
RJ Luis Jr. leads St. John’s with 17.4 points per game. Ejiofor averages a team-high 8.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks, while Richmond averages 5 assists and 2 steals.
On the injury front, Richmond is playing through pain for St. John’s.
“Kadary Richmond is more injured than any player I’ve coached right now, he’s got double groin pulls, got problems all over his anatomy, and he played and played hard. He needs time off, as much as we can give him.”
His status has not been decided for Wednesday. Jaiden Glover (wrist) and Brady Dunlap (hand) will miss the rest of the season for St. John’s while Evan Haywood (illness) is questionable for Butler.
St. John’s leads the all-time series 14-11, with all but one of those matchups taking place after 2014. The Red Storm have taken the last four and will look for their eighth win over Butler in the last nine matchups.
The last matchup was tight, with St. John’s surging ahead late to win 70-62 at Carnasecca Arena on Jan. 4. Luis Jr. led St. John’s with 20 points and 11 boards, while Brooks paced Butler with 17 points.
At the top of the list for the Bulldogs going into this one will be turnovers. They committed 21 in the last matchup, leading to 19 points for St. John’s. The Red Storm had 27 fast-break points as well.
–Field Level Media
