It isn’t always pretty. It doesn’t always go as planned. Shots rarely seem to find the bottom of the net. But the Red Storm just keep winning, and they are doing it with an old school style defined by defense, toughness and physicality.
That was the story on Friday night at Gampel Pavilion, as No. 12 St. John’s toppled No. 19 UConn, 68-62, in a classic Big East battle. It was the Johnnies’ tenth straight victory and first over the Huskies since the 2022-23 season. The Red Storm sit atop the league at 12-1 (21-3 overall), having also beaten No. 11 Marquette, 70-64, earlier this week. “This is a very gritty team,” junior guard RJ Luis Jr. said afterwards. “All the guys want to win. We’re very hungry.”
In preparation for the game, UConn head Dan Hurley encouraged his players to watch the movie Gladiator. “It’s that type of game,” he told the media on Thursday. “It’s going to be a war.” That it was. For two-and-a-half hours, these two rivals traded haymakers. After UConn jumped out to a 26-12 lead, St. John’s stormed back by turning up the intensity on defense, implementing a full court press that was very effective. “What the press has done for me for 40 years is worn people out legs wise, where they don’t shoot the ball as well,” St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino said. “It’s always been the gift that my teams have had. If we can wear out their legs, they won’t shoot it as well.” By halftime, the Red Storm had taken the lead, 37-35.
Neither team could pull away in the second half, but the Johnnies’ landed the final punch. Leading 64-62 with 12 seconds left in regulation and three seconds on the shot clock, St. John’s assistant coach Bob Walsh called the perfect baseline out of bounds play for Luis, who came off a screen and nailed a wide open midrange jumper to seal the victory. “It was just straight adrenaline,” Luis said of the moment. “I’m glad Coach Bob drew that play up for me.”
Luis finished with a game-high 21 points on 10 of 21 shooting. Senior guard Kadary Richmond pitched in 12 points (all of which came in the second half), six rebounds, six assists and two steals. In his first game back after missing a month with an ankle injury, UConn freshman forward Liam McNeeley scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
St. John’s managed to win despite shooting 40 percent from the field and 19 percent from three. At one point in the second half, the Johnnies missed 11 shots in a row. It is not unusual for this squad to struggle offensively, particularly from behind the arc. For the season, the Red Storm are attempting fewer than 20 threes per game and hitting only 29.1 percent of them, which ranks 349th nationally. At a time when most programs are prioritizing shooting, St. John’s has built its identity on the other end of the floor. It is a throwback team that takes pride in playing defense, currently holding opponents to just 65 points per game and averaging 9.4 steals (20th in Division I).
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“The game was everything that we expected it to be,” Hurley said. “Credit St. John’s, their defense is real. The pressure they put on you, the physicality, the switching, their ability to rotate and scramble.”
The Red Storm held the Huskies to just 36 points in the final 31 minutes of the game and forced 22 turnovers. UConn looked rattled by the Johnnies’ press and flustered in the half court, shooting 39.2 percent from the field. Junior forward Alex Karaban, one of UConn’s top offensive weapons, scored three points. “All five guys they have on the court, they can all guard,” said McNeeley. “They can all guard on the perimeter, so it’s hard to get paint touches and that’s where we strive. We can dump off to the bigs or kick out for threes, and we weren’t able to do that tonight.”
In the modern era of pace and space, a team like St. John’s isn’t supposed to be this dominant. And yet, it just keeps climbing the rankings. “Just refusing to lose and having a will to win,” Richmond said of his squad’s effort on Friday. “And knowing that we’re one of the best teams out here. We’re going to keep working and being humble and being who we are.”
