After three straight nail-biters, the St. John’s basketball team gave its fans an enjoyable and stress-free game on Wednesday night against Butler.
The Red Storm went wire-to-wire, winning 92-70. Zuby Ejiofor made the first shot of the game for the Johnnies and they never looked back. Its lead grew to as many as 14 points, 20-6, in the first half behind a quick start and dominance in the paint.
No. 25 St. John’s (16-5, 9-1 Big East) opened the game with 20 straight points in the paint and had 26-of-28 points in the paint after missing its first seven attempts from 3-point range. However, the Johnnies got hot quickly, making its final five triples to lead 43-29 at halftime.
The second half continued the dominance by the Red Storm with Butler (13-8, 4-6 Big East) not being able to get closer than nine points in the early stages. Its lead grew to as many as 29 points in the final minute.
The starting forward trio of Ejiofor, Dillon Mitchell, and Bryce Hopkins were too dominant for the Bulldogs as they combined for 37 points and 24 rebounds.
“I’m having so much fun watching Dillon Mitchell play,” Rick Pitino said after the victory. “I don’t think I’ve said that too many times of my 52 years of having fun watching a person play.”
Mitchell posted his third double-double in four games with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
“It’s not like having another point guard on the floor, it’s like having another coach on the floor,” Pitino continued.
Joson Sanon and Ian Jackson tallied 31 points as the Storm shot 56.3-percent from the field and 45.0-percent from 3-point range.
St. John’s finished with 46 points in the paint and tied a season-low five turnovers.
The victory marked the seventh straight win for St. John’s, a streak that began against the Bulldogs in Indianapolis on January 6. It was also its eight straight win over Butler in the all-time series.
St. John’s will have the weekend idle before starting a stretch of three games in seven days that begins in Chicago against DePaul on Tuesday night (8:00 p.m. ET, Peacock).