The St. John’s men’s basketball team secured its second consecutive BIG EAST Regular Season Championship with a 72-65 win over Seton Hall on Friday in Newark, New Jersey. This victory ensures the Red Storm will be the top seed in the upcoming BIG EAST Tournament.
With this achievement, St. John’s has now claimed back-to-back regular season titles for the first time since the mid-1980s. The program has won seven BIG EAST Regular Season championships in its history, including those from 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1992, 2025, and now 2026.
Over the past two seasons, St. John’s has recorded a total of 36 conference wins—more than any other member school over a similar period. Since the final games of the 2023-24 season, they have become only the third program to win 41 league games within a span of 45 contests.
The Red Storm matched the conference record for league victories for a second straight year with an 18-2 mark in BIG EAST play. They equaled last year’s performance and that of UConn during the 2023-24 season by reaching this number.
Friday’s game saw St. John’s withstand a comeback attempt by Seton Hall to secure their first consecutive wins at Prudential Center.
As top seed, St. John’s will enter Madison Square Garden—the venue often called “The World’s Most Famous Arena”—for just the fourth time as number one in program history. The team holds an all-time record of eight wins and one loss when seeded first in this tournament.
This latest regular season title is Head Coach Rick Pitino’s fourteenth over his collegiate coaching career spanning nearly four decades. It also marks his fourth BIG EAST championship—two with Louisville (2009 and 2013) and two with St. John’s (2025 and now).
Zuby Ejiofor led all scorers with 21 points on efficient shooting despite foul trouble: “It marked the ninth 20-plus point performance for the senior.” Dillon Mitchell contributed seven assists and seven rebounds; Dylan Darling added nine points and five assists; Bryce Hopkins and Oziyah Sellers each scored eleven points.
St. John’s defense limited Seton Hall to just one three-pointer out of eleven attempts from long range (9.1%).
Seton Hall began with an early lead before St. John’s responded with an extended scoring run highlighted by teamwork: “The Johnnies dished out assists on their first six made field goals as Darling’s 3-pointer off a feed from Mitchell sprung the advantage to 14-7 with 14:12 left to play.”
Later in the half, after Seton Hall regained momentum briefly at 22-21, Mitchell responded quickly: “Mitchell rose up for a one-handed putback jam.” Ruben Prey closed out the half strongly for St. John’s to give them a halftime lead of three points.
In the second half, Joson Sanon hit two three-pointers while Sellers reached his own milestone by surpassing one thousand career points as part of another surge that pushed their lead further ahead: “Sellers cashed in from beyond-the-arc to eclipse the 1,000-career point mark.”
Despite late efforts from Seton Hall—including A.J Staton-McCray making it close with under a minute remaining—Ejiofor made key free throws before assisting Mitchell on a layup that sealed both victory and championship status: “Ejiofor responded with two clutch free throws and fed Mitchell for a lay-in to seal the BIG EAST Regular Season crown.”
St. John’s plays home games in Queens, New York according to their official website. The team participates in NCAA Division I basketball as part of the Big East Conference under its Red Storm nickname.
Looking ahead, St. John’s will begin tournament play next week at Madison Square Garden starting from Thursday’s quarterfinal round at noon; their opponent is yet to be determined.
