If St. John’s hopes to ride its defense to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, or perhaps even further, Thursday’s Big East Tournament debut was a strong showcase.
The Red Storm suffocated ninth-seeded Butler from tip to buzzer, showing off why they were the best in the conference in points allowed per game and field goal percentage allowed. The top-seeded Johnnies held the Bulldogs to a lowly 34.5 field goal percentage and forced 15 turnovers in a 78-57 rout to punch their ticket to the semifinals on Friday against the winner of Marquette and Xavier.
Still, head coach Rick Pitino wants to see his group reach another level with a conference tournament championship in reach.
“We were four star tonight, which was good enough to win,” Pitino said. “We played good enough to win. Did a lot of good things tonight, and did a lot of things we need to get better at. But overall, it was a four-star performance, and we’ll take it.”
St. John’s defense was as advertised to begin their Big East Tournament journey, holding Butler to a lowly 14.3 percent from the field while jumping out to a 15-3 lead through the first seven minutes of play. The Red Storm dominated the offensive glass, as second-chance opportunities led to an easy corner three from RJ Luis Jr., and after a forced turnover, Kadary Richmond knocked down a driving layup while absorbing contact, completing a 3-point play to put the Johnnies ahead by a dozen.
The lead felt insurmountable given the way Pitino’s group was locked in on the defensive end. Minutes later, St. John’s forced a shot clock violation, and another 3-pointer from Luis Jr. extended the lead to 15.
Meanwhile, at the time, Butler had more turnovers than points.
The overmatched Bulldogs finally began to find their shooting stroke late in the first half to cut the lead to 10, but as they were gaining momentum, Lefteris Liotopoulos forced a turnover under the Bulldogs’ own basket off a St. John’s miss, putting home the easy layup to put the Red Storm back up by a dozen, as defense again provided the difference.
The Bulldogs trimmed the lead to nine coming out of halftime, but St. John’s answered right back, pushing the lead back to 16 by carving up Butler’s zone defense with jumpers from the free throw line. Out of a timeout, Luis Jr. threw down a putback slam to make it a 19-point cushion, and off a steal two possessions later, Vince Iwuchukwu threw down a dunk of his own to balloon the lead to 21.
From there, St. John’s was able to coast the rest of the way, as the lead grew to 23 with three minutes to go thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from Aaron Scott.
Meanwhile, the Red Storm defense didn’t give in despite the comfortable lead, continuing to showcase itself as one of the most cohesive, relentless units in the nation, which will be the team’s likely formula for success in March. But before the madness begins, St. John’s has two wins to go to capture its first Big East Tournament crown since 2000.