St. John's basketball earns bye in Big East Tournament, will face Seton Hall again

It took all night but the St. John's basketball team has earned a bye into the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament.

The Johnnies handled its own business on Saturday afternoon against Georgetown, 86-78, and could have clinched the No. 5 seed shortly after its victory, but Villanova's comeback bid against No. 10 Creighton fell short on a Trey Alexander jumper with 0.2 seconds remaining.

So, the Red Storm had to wait until Providence and Connecticut began at 8:00 p.m. ET to find out where it would be seeded next week at Madison Square Garden.

If the Friars were to upset the Huskies, St. John's would be the No. 6 seed and have to use energy on Wednesday night against DePaul before battling Marquette in the quarterfinals, but would be the No. 5 seed if UConn went on the road and won.

Providence started the game on fire, opening up a 15-2 lead on its home floor before UConn closed the half on a 40-9 run, eventually winning 74-60. The Huskies led by as many as 26 points in the second half.

it sets up the third meeting of the season between St. John's and Seton Hall on Thursday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. ET (FoxSports1).

Seton Hall officially was slotted as the No. 4 seed after Marquette completed its comeback victory on the road against Xavier. A Golden Eagles loss would have made the Pirates the No. 3 seed

The has been no shortage of drama when the two teams have met this season with Seton Hall using a 28-0 run, bridging the first and second halves, to beat the Red Storm in Newark, in which did not have head coach Rick Pitino or starting guard Jordan Dingle due to COVID-19.

Then, Pitino's highly criticized public message to his team, calling them laterally slow, after the Johnnies blew a 19-point first half lead in a crushing loss in mid-February.

St. John's has not lost since that game, winning five in a row.

It will be the first meeting between St. John's and Seton Hall in the Big East Tournament since 2021, which was held without fans at Madison Square Garden. The Pirates won, 77-69, in overtime.

A victory would send the Johnnies to its first Big East Tournament Semifinal since 2000 with top-seeded UConn likley waiting.

A fascinating week awaits at The World's Most Famous Arena.