The St. John’s basketball team had been winning since its marquee victory over then No. 3 UConn on February 6, but it was doing so rather unimpressively -- an overtime win against Xavier, a melee in Providence, and a nailbiter in Milwaukee against Marquette.
Consider its win over Creighton on Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden very impressive.
One game removed from its massive upset against the Huskies, the Bluejays were stifled by the No. 17 Red Storm in an 81-52 whipping. It was the second-lowest scoring output of the season for Creighton as well as its second-lowest shooting percentage, 32.1-percent.
“That was the best defense we played all season,” Rick Pitino said after the victory.
Creighton (14-14, 8-9 Big East) was held to a season low 0.70 points per possession and no one scored in double figures.
Zuby Ejiofor got to the free throw line on the opening possession of the game and made both of his attempts as St. John’s never relinquished its lead. Ejiofor finished with 15 points, scoring 13 in the first half, and three rebounds while sitting for the final 11:42 of the blowout.
Dylan Darling led the Johnnies in scoring for the third time this season with 17 points, four rebounds, three assists, and three steals.
“I’m just trying to stay aggressive,” Darling explained. “That's really just my mindset. Trying to stay engaged offensively and honestly, just paying most of my focus to the defensive side of the floor and then the offense will just take care of itself.”
The Johnnies (22-5, 15-1 Big East) led by 15 points, 42-27, at halftime and saw its lead trimmed to ten twice early in the second half before rattling off a 25-4 run that pushed the lead to 31 points as Creighton was in the midst of a field goal drought that lasted 8:45.
Bryce Hopkins turned in his second straight positive performance with 15 points and 10 rebounds on an efficient 6-for-10 shooting while Dillon Mitchell went for six points, ten rebounds, seven assists.
St. John’s will have its highly anticipated rematch with No. 5 UConn (24-3, 14-2 Big East) on Wednesday night (7:00 p.m. ET, Peacock) in Hartford in a game that will have a major outcome as to who wins the Big East regular season championship.