Thursday’s Big East Tournament quarterfinal between St. John’s and Providence was supposed to be the trilogy of one of the most dramatic series of the season, instead it was a laugher.
The top-seeded Red Storm started fast and never looked back against the No. 9 seeded Friars, winning 85-72 to advance to the semifinals on Friday night.
St. John’s (26-6) started on a 20-5 run, which was fueled by its frontcourt trio of Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins, and Dillon Mitchell.
Hopkins put together his best game against his former team after struggling to score in its first two matchups, going for 14 points and 13 rebounds, but it was Ejiofor who was the star of the show with 21 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and three blocks.
The Red Storm’s lead grew to as many as 23 points in the first half before leading by 21, 48-27, at halftime.
In the second half, Providence (15-18) was able to gather momentum, but the air came out of the Friars following a missed free throw from Stefan Vaaks on a 4-point opportunity with 9:49 remaining that could have cut the deficit to 11 points.
Instead, the Red Storm took advantage and rattled off a 12-1 run to extend its lead back to 23 points, 77-54. The advantage grew to as many as 24 before Rick Pitino pulled the starters and watched Providence close the game on a 13-2 run.
In its first-round victory over Butler on Wednesday, the Friars were 14-of-27 from 3-point range and managed to make just 5-of-14 against the Red Storm on Thursday.
“We played awesome defense tonight,” Pitino said. “Especially the first half was as good as we played all year.”
“I said the only way this team can beat us is from the three-point line, so we were not going to let them have that edge,” he added about his pregame message to the team.
St. John’s outrebounded Providence by 21 and scored ten more points in the paint.
In addtion to Ejiofor and Hopkins' standout performances, Oziyah Sellers and Ian Jackson each had 14 points.
The Red Storm will play in back-to-back Big East semifinals for the first time since 1999 and 2000, awaiting the winner of No. 4 seed Seton Hall and No. 5 seed Creighton on Friday night (5:00 p.m. ET, FOX).