No. 7 St. John’s will look to expand his winning line to four matches on Wednesday night when Red Storm is traveling to Indianapolis to take on Butler.
This is an important game for the entire Big East, as Red Storm (24-4, 15-2) can pass part of the conference’s regular season with a victory. They can also do it with a Creighton loss to Depaul on Wednesday.
St. John’s, who has won 13 of his last 14 matches, has not secured part of the Big East title since 1992 and has not won the conference directly since 1985.
“We want this Big East Crown badly,” said coach Rick Pitino. “Not only for the players but also for the fans who came back.”
The red storm comes from one of its better victories of the season when they dominated Uconn 89-75 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
The profit made it possible for St. John’s to swipe Uconn in the season series for the first time since 2000. It also improved the red storm to 17-0 at home.
“This was our best game offensively and defensively throughout the season,” Pitino said. “I think they get better every day and every game.”
Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond each led one with 18 points, with Ejiofor also gathered nine returns and six assists.
Butler (13-14, 6-10) plays well as late, after winning four of their last five matches, including a victory 84-72 on the road at Depaul on Saturday night.
Pierre Brooks recorded 24 points and seven returns for Bulldogs, which closed the match on a 17-4 run.
Jahmyl Telfort has team -leading averages in points (16.1) and assists (3.5). The second screen leads down low by 6.1 returns and 1.4 blocks per night.
RJ LUIS JR. Leads St. John’s with 17.4 points per match. Ejiofor is on average a team high 8.1 returns and 1.6 blocks, while Richmond is on average 5 assists and 2 steals.
On the injury front, Richmond plays through pain for St. John’s.
“Kadary Richmond is more injured than any player I have trained right now, he has double groin, got problems all over his anatomy, and he played and played hard. He needs leave, as much as we can give him.”
His status has not been decided for Wednesday. Jaiden Glover (wrist) and Brady Dunlap (hand) will miss the rest of the season for St. John’s while Evan Haywood (illness) is hesitant for Butler.
St. John’s is constantly leading the series 14-11, with all except one of these matches that takes place after 2014. The red storm has taken the last four and will look for his eighth victory over Butler in the last nine matches.
The last matchup was tight, with St. John’s growing forward late to win 70-62 at Carnasecca Arena on January 4. Luis Jr. led St. John’s with 20 points and 11 boards, while Brooks Paced Butler with 17 points.
At the top of the list for the bulldogs entering this are sales. They engaged 21 in the last matchup, which led to 19 points for St. John’s. The red storm also had 27 quick points.
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