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St. John’s basketball year in review: Top-5 moments in 2020

By Michael Szabo

Mar 1, 2020; Queens, New York, USA; St. John's Red Storm guard Rasheem Dunn (3) controls the ball against Creighton Bluejays guard Marcus Zegarowski (11) during the second half at Carnesecca Arena. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 1, 2020; Queens, New York, USA; St. John's Red Storm guard Rasheem Dunn (3) controls the ball against Creighton Bluejays guard Marcus Zegarowski (11) during the second half at Carnesecca Arena. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports /
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No. 3 St. John’s basketball moment of 2020 – The Day that Will Live in Infamy, the day everything stopped

This particular moment is certainly not on the Top-5 list for positive reasons, but for its impact and the unprecedented circumstances surrounding March 12, 2020.

Less than 24 hours after an inspiring comeback win against Georgetown to advance to the quarterfinals, the Red Storm would face off against the top-seeded Creighton Blue Jays.

Typically, the quarterfinals is a round in the conference tournament that the Red Storm have struggled mightily with as St. John’s has suffered some ugly and massive losses in the past few years, but this tournament was a much different story.

In terms of the play on the court, the Johnnies had a much better performance than many were anticipating, matching Creighton shot-for-shot and went into the half leading the Blue Jays by three.

There was a real sense of belief in St. John’s fans that the Red Storm might beat Creighton and advance to the Big East Tournament Semifinals for the first time since the Red Storm won it all in 2000.

However, reports were surfacing moments before tipoff that almost all other conference tournaments had been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Then, just as the teams went back to the locker room for halftime it was announced that the rest of the game, and the Big East Tournament, was canceled due to COVID-19.

The cancelation was expected before the game started, as the only spectators allowed into Madison Square Garden were close friends and family of the members of each team.

It would be the last college basketball game that took place prior to the start of the 2020-21 season.

Looking back on what happened in the past nine months, we can point to that day as the moment in time where everything completely changed.

The lasting image of that afternoon is Johnny Thunderbird, the St. John’s mascot, sitting by himself in an empty Madison Square Garden following the announcement.

In terms of on the court, the cancellation presented the greatest what-if question among Red Storm fans about whether St. John’s would have defeated Creighton and advanced to the semifinals if COVID never happened.