The St. John’s basketball team is still riding its high after its massive victory over No. 11 Marquette, but Rick Pitino is trying to get his team back to earth quickly.
The No. 12 Johnnies (20-3, 11-1 Big East) are back in the national spotlight, there is a hope for winning the Big East regular season title and earning a Top-4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but there is little time to celebrate with a trip to No. 19 UConn (16-6, 8-3 Big East) coming quickly.
“We’re staying level-headed,” Zuby Ejiofor said on Thursday afternoon. “It was a great win for us and we’re happy the fans were all into it…but now it’s the next game and we’re looking on to UConn now.”
The Huskies, although not as dangerous yet as its back-to-back National Championship teams, had a week to prepare for the Johnnies following its dominant victory on the road against Marquette and are expecting to get star freshman Liam McNeeley back from an ankle injury.
“You don’t think too high or too low about any situation,” Ejiofor said of Pitino’s message to his team over the last 48 hours.
“This week is as important of a stretch that we have had here in a while, so it’s really important that everyone has the same level of focus and the same level of competition to get ready for these games.”
St. John’s is riding a nine-game winning streak but did not defeat the Huskies in its three chances last season. The Red Storm played UConn the toughest in its postseason stretch, falling in the Big East Tournament Semifinals, but did not get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The rivalry between the programs grew quickly with its outspoken head coaches and their desire to win, nearly butting heads in its semifinal showdown with Rick Pitino’s friend jawing at Dan Hurley from his courtside seats.
Ejiofor wouldn’t admit that the Red Storm and Huskies are truly rivals while Deivon Smith mentioned that other students around campus have told him that the schools are rivals but it’s not something anyone has talked about in the locker room.
“We respect every opponent,” Ejiofor explained. “This game is going to come down to the defensive end. So, whoever is going to be the better defensive team is going to ultimately win the game.”
Regardless of what’s said through the media leading up to tipoff, there will be no love lost between the teams when the action gets underway inside Gampel Pavilion on Friday night (8:00 p.m. ET, FOX).