For the second year in a row, St. John’s stands alone as the Big East regular season champion.
No. 18 St. John’s claimed the outright conference crown Saturday after No. 4 UConn suffered a stunning upset at Marquette, 68-62, in the regular season finale.
St. John’s (18-2 in conference play) had clinched at least a share of the Big East title with Friday night’s 72-65 win over Seton Hall in Newark.
UConn (17-3) would have been the conference’s co-champion had it handled its business against a Marquette team that entered Saturday just 6-13 in Big East play and 11-19 overall.
But UConn faltered in the second half, surrendering a 20-4 run and at one point going nearly eight minutes between field goals.
This is the second consecutive Big East regular season championship for St. John’s, which also won the outright title last year. It’s the first time since the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons that St. John’s won back-to-back conference titles.
“We have won back-to-back championships with two different teams, and that’s not easy to do,” head coach Rick Pitino said. “There’s been one common denominator, and that’s the young man to my left [Zuby Ejiofor].”
St. John’s (25-6 overall) will next attempt to repeat as the Big East Tournament champions, where it will again be the No. 1 seed.
The conference tournament at Madison Square Garden begins Wednesday, with St. John’s set to play Thursday after its first-round bye.
St. John’s split the regular season series against UConn (27-4 overall), including a historic 72-40 loss to the Huskies in Hartford on Feb. 25.
But the Red Storm won their final three games after that blowout defeat, while UConn went just 1-1 and looked vulnerable in both.
This is the third year in a row that a Big East team finished 18-2 in conference play — a feat that had never occurred before UConn did so in 2024. St. John’s finished with that same record last year.
“It’s awesome,” St. John’s guard Dylan Darling said of the conference crown. “It’s super fulfilling because this didn’t start in November. This started back in June, with summer workouts with these guys. And it’s just super fulfilling to know the hard work’s paying off with this group.”
