St. John's basketball finalizes home venues, including three major matchups in Queens
The Big East took another step closer to the start of basketball season on Thursday afternoon with the announcement of the full league schedule, which includes the home venues of St. John's basketball games this year.
The Red Storm will play eight home games at Madison Square Garden with ten matchups inside Carnesecca Arena. There will be no games for St. John's at UBS Arena or the Barclays Center this year.
As previously announced, the Johnnies will make its season debut inside Madison Square Garden on Sunday, November 17 when Richard Pitino, Rick Pitino's son, leads his New Mexico Lobos into Manhattan.
A venue for the Big East vs. Big 12 Battle matchup against Kansas State (December 7) had not been announced but all indications pointed to the game being played in Queens as that became official on Thursday too.
St. John's will host DePaul (December 17), Butler (January 4), and Seton Hall (March 1) at Carnesecca Arena with all other league games being played inside The World's Most Famous Arena.
The game against Butler will serve as St. John's 100th birthday celebration for legendary head coach Lou Carnesecca, who will reach the century mark on January 5. Head coach Rick Pitino mentioned last year that he wanted to play UConn in the on-campus home of the Johnnies to honor Looie's milestone birthday, but the idea of hosting the Huskies was quickly shot down by the Big East and Madison Square Garden.
This season will mark the second time in the last three seasons that St. John's has hosted Seton Hall at Carnesecca Arena. The Pirates defeated the Red Storm, 84-72, in Queens during the 2022-23 season. The matchup was held at UBS Arena last year.
Seton Hall has not played St. John's during the regular season at Madison Square Garden since the 2021-22 season.
Tipoff times and television networks for all games will be released at a later date.