St. John’s makes history with first back-to-back BIG EAST Tournament Championships

BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ

NEW YORK– Winning is becoming synonymous with St. John’s in the BIG EAST as they make history in this year’s championship game.

The Johnnies have won back-to-back BIG EAST Tournament titles for the first time in program history with their 72-52 win over UConn. They may have also spoiled UConn’s hopes at a No. 1 seed for the Big Dance in the process.

St. John’s is the first team in BIG EAST history to win the outright title in both the regular season and the conference tournament in back-to-back seasons.

After Friday night’s victory over Seton Hall, St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino made it clear that, for him and his team, there was no thinking about any NCAA Tournament run. There was only the BIG EAST Championship game on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The Johnnies showed that on the floor from the beginning of the game.

“We put in so much work starting in the summer and we are still putting in a ton of work right now,” Zuby Ejiofor said after putting up 18 points, 9 rebounds and 7 blocks in the victory. “It’s just so important that all the work you put in the summer and all the long days, the long nights, the ups and downs, it payed off. We’re not done yet, we have a lot more we want to achieve but this is definitely awarding right now for sure.”

Pitino became the first coach in BIG EAST history to win back-to-back conference titles with two different schools. The first with Louisville in 2012-2013 and now with St. John’s.

Now, the Johnnies will turn their attention towards the NCAA Tournament, which they were eliminated from in the second round after winning the first of their back-to-back BIG EAST championships.

“Obviously we’ll be well prepared for the first game but I told these guys that these three games have to be the first three games of the NCAA Tournament because you get llittle prep time.,” Pitino said. “We’ll be ready for a first game, goodwilling we get by that game and then the second game you got one day. So they’re ready for that now. They all know its prep, everyone of them knows its prep. They are locked in offensively, they are locked in defensively.”

Ejiofor won the BIG EAST Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player Award while Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell were selected to the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team.

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