Outstanding talent reigns supreme in highest and biggest character win to date for Red Storm

Zuby Ejiofor (24) finishes second-half dunk as St. John’s picks up biggest win of season Tuesday against Marquette. (Photo by St. John’s Athletics)

NEW YORK — Even in the face of the program’s best start in 40 years, criticism has greeted St. John’s as it turned corners one game at a time.

The Red Storm could not win in March, the doubters said, for a number of reasons. Whether it was a lack of 3-point shooting, inconsistent free throws, or the patented slow starts, the Johnnies—although on a higher plane than usual this year—were still being taken somewhat lightly in some circles.

Then, there was the lack of a marquee win on its schedule. That, however, was no fault of the Red Storm, whose three defeats have come by a grand total of just five points while simply doing its job over the course of the year.

Tuesday night changed that narrative, continuing a theme that has reigned supreme in the Big Apple as Rick Pitino authors yet another second-season improvement on an already illustrious resume.

With 11th-ranked Marquette, one spot above St. John’s in the polls, entering Madison Square Garden Tuesday, St. John’s turned in its most character-defining performance to date, never straying from its identity in a 70-64 victory over the Golden Eagles. On a night where Kadary Richmond, RJ Luis and Zuby Ejiofor each racked up a double-double, the Red Storm crushed the glass en route to 50 rebounds—21 offensive—and made it all but impossible for Marquette to get putback attempts against a suffocating defense, establishing a firm grip of the Big East standings in the process by expanding its conference lead to a game and a half on idle Creighton.

“The statistical data does not mean anything with these guys,” Pitino declared, almost in disbelief at how his team simply outworks the other on most nights to emerge victorious. “Zero. This is a very unique team, they just defy all statistical data almost every single game. Their effort level, though, is so incredibly high. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen something like this, effort level-wise. They’re a hell of a basketball team that just plays so hard. As a coach, I can’t appreciate anymore than this. I’m so full with gratitude to see players play this hard. It’s exciting.”

“This is a relentless defensive team, and you see it all the time with the shot clock winding down. This a relentless group that’s totally bought into stopping every play. I’m so proud of this damn team. They just are so refreshing with the way they play, how hard they play. They deserve all the credit in the world, they beat a really good team, a well-coached team.”

A Pitino trademark has always been getting his teams to peak timely, something both Luis and Richmond hinted at Tuesday in the midst of a stretch not seen in decades. Richmond, in particular, has blossomed into the player St. John’s expected when it plucked him out of the transfer portal in May, silently taking over games the same way he did on the other side of the Hudson at Seton Hall, where Pitino lauded Shaheen Holloway for the job he did with the senior point guard before praising Richmond’s marked progression from a conditioning perspective.

“I envisioned special things for all of us as a group,” the reticent Richmond revealed. “When we all got here, we were all competitive, going at each other, working hard in individual workouts. I feel like what we did in the summer, what we did in the preseason, it’s showing up now. I would say it’s a nice feeling. It’s good to enjoy it, but we’re nowhere near done. We’ve got more games to play, more games coming up, and each step of the way gets better, as a group and individually.”

“You guys could see it now,” Luis added. “We’re a very hungry group and we’re very determined to win. I think we’re having a great season. We have a lot to accomplish yet and the guys are hungry. We’re gonna go after it, and we obviously don’t like to lose because we don’t like how Coach Pitino gets.”

Getting after it, per se, has been the embodiment of the Marquette team St. John’s faced Tuesday, as head coach Shaka Smart consistently highlights the value and concept of getting lost in the fight. The veteran coach credited the Red Storm for playing with the violence he demands from his own unit, but recognized the game was won more by St. John’s imposing its will and asserting it frequently than any missed shots—both sides combined to miss free throws—would have allowed.

“There are so many different factors that go into winning, and there are so many different factors that go into losing,” Smart shared. “Shooting is the one that people pay a lot of attention to, because it’s so obvious, but if there’s 50 of those factors and shooting is one of them, (St. John’s is) really good at the other 49. They do a terrific job of playing to their strengths and understanding that in the paint and on the glass are where they’re gonna have a huge advantage. They did a great job of pressing that advantage.”

“The best teams—whether it’s St. John’s (Tuesday), UConn over the course of the run that they’ve been on, whether it’s Villanova (with) their great teams—they do the best job of striking the balance of playing with violence without a foul being called. That’s what the best teams do, and we’ve gotta get better at that. We had 17 fouls in the second half. That’s not a recipe for winning.”

Marquette, who has dropped two straight to UConn and St. John’s, continues its three-game gauntlet this weekend against Creighton in search of a win to right the ship and remain in the mix for a regular season championship. As for the rejuvenated Red Storm, the biggest week for the program since at least 2011 is furthered Friday with a trip to Gampel Pavilion to face an aforementioned Huskies team that will likely be welcoming back uber-talented freshman Liam McNeeley as it seeks to maintain its own upward momentum. Regardless, the Johnnies are not taking anything for granted, appreciative of what has come to this point but setting the table for more in the next five weeks of a campaign that is already in contention to be one of its better efforts of all time.

“This has just been so much fun,” Pitino proclaimed. “Coaching this group is so much fun. Seeing the Garden the way it is, seeing St. John’s come back is so much fun. I’m having a blast coaching these guys, I’m having a blast seeing the Garden explode like this. The great thing about coaching this team is we still have a lot of improvement to make, we’re gonna get better and better.”

“You look for improvement. I think here, the whole is better than the sum of the parts most of the time because of their defense, but we’ve got outstanding talent. It’s different talent, it’s just outstanding.”