St. John’s basketball is officially is getting started on its 2021-22 schedule.
As the summer comes around, so do details about next season’s schedule for the St. John’s basketball program.
On Tuesday, it was announced by CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein that the Red Storm will face Pittsburgh on December 18 at Madison Square Garden.
Sources: MSG will host a doubleheader on December 18th featuring St. John's/Pitt and Seton Hall/Iona.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 11, 2021
A tremendous event at the World's Most Famous Arena.
The game will be part of a doubleheader event that will also feature a matchup between Seton Hall and Iona.
It was originally announced in February that St. John’s and the Panthers were planning for a non-conference matchup next season at Madison Square Garden.
This will be the first matchup between St. John’s and Pittsburgh since the Panthers left the Big East Conference in 2013.
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The last Red Storm victory against Pittsburgh came on February 19, 2011 by a score of 60-59 at The Garden.
St. John’s is 34-24 all-time against the Panthers.
However, the contest between these two teams will be a lot different than many anticipated when the news of the game was first released.
St. John’s and Pittsburgh was slated to be a brother vs. brother matchup with the Champagnie brothers, Justin and Julian Champagnie, on opposite sides of this contest, but Justin Champagnie officially declared for the 2021 NBA Draft while Julian Champagnie still mulls over his looming decision.
St. John’s basketball continue to build next season’s schedule
In addition to this matchup with Pittsburgh, the Red Storm will look to build out the non-conference schedule with some other key matchups.
St. John’s will face a team from the Big 10 Conference team in the Gavitt Games and a Big 12 Conference foe in the Big East vs. Big 12 challenge, as well.
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Zach Braziller of the New York Post has reported that the Johnnies will host St. Peter’s on November 13 and Fairleigh Dickinson on November 20 while Rothstein reported NJIT will play St. John’s on November 27.
The three non-conference games against the mid-majors will be at Carnesseca Arena.
St. John’s finished with a 16-11 (10-9 Big East) record this past season as head coach Mike Anderson heads into his third year in charge of the program.