The Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden is meant for great theater and there will be nothing better than its first quarterfinal matchup between St. John’s and Providence on Thursday afternoon.
It’ll be the first matchup since the altercation between the two teams in Providence in mid-February that saw six ejections after Friar forward Duncan Powell clotheslined Red Storm forward – and former Providence standout – Bryce Hopkins on a breakaway in the second half.
The Johnnies outscored Providence by 11 after the fracas, winning 79-69, after the Friars stunned the Red Storm inside Madison Square Garden during its first meeting in early January.
It was one of only two conference games St. John’s lost during the regular season.
“I don’t know what made me feel like that, but it was just a feeling I had that we were going to match up with them again – or possibly matchup with them again,” Hopkins said on Monday at a team autograph signing at Applebee’s in Fresh Meadows.
“So, I mean, it is what it is.”
Hopkins has struggled against his former team this season, shooting 6-for-27 in the two games and averaging 9.0 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.
St. John’s is still expecting the Providence fans that make the trip to The Garden to be jeering Hopkins like it did in its prior two games.
“We can’t really worry about all the verbal altercations or anything like that,” Zuby Ejiofor said on Wednesday after he was presented with the Big East Player of the Year and Scholar Athlete of the Year.
“We’re playing for a Big East Tournament [championship], and that’s what matters above anything else. That’s what you have to really go into the game thinking about, coming out with a win, advance, and playing for a championship.”
Had the fight not occurred, St. John’s could have been swept by Providence. It saw a 13-point lead vanish as the Friars had all the momentum before the hard foul.
“They blew that game by acting that way,” Rick Pitino said. “They could’ve beaten us twice.”
Powell was suspended for three games as the play was the talk of college basketball for the remainder of the weekend.
Friar head coach Kim English thought everything was taken completely too far by those talking about the incident.
“There’s no beef between us and St. John’s,” he said on Wednesday night. “I think it was all truthfully blown out of proportion.”
“Again, it was a hard foul. A couple guys got in each other’s face. There were some pushes. I mean, I think it got completely blown out of proportion, but that’s college basketball clickbait, fodder, BS right now.”
Providence star guard Jaylin Sellers was ejected in the aftermath of the lengthy review against the Red Storm downplayed the third matchup between the teams.
“No extra motivation,” he said. “They’re on the list, so we got to take care of business to keep our season alive.”
Providence went 14-for-27 (51.9-percent) from 3-point range on Wednesday in its 91-81 win over Butler in the first round. Freshman sharpshooter Stefan Vaaks, who averaged 18.0 points against the Red Storm, was 8-for-13 from deep.