Ten months after facing off in the Big East championship game, St. John’s and Creighton meet again on Saturday in Omaha, Neb.
After coming into the season with high expectations and one of the favorites to repeat as conference champions, St. John’s (10-5, 3-1 Big East) underwhelmed in nonconference play, falling from the preseason No. 5 ranking to out of the AP Top 25 altogether.
The Red Storm, however, have bounced back nicely in the Big East, winning three of their first four games, including an 84-70 road victory over Butler on Tuesday.
“I told them all week I don’t care what the outside noise is, I have all the confidence in the world in this basketball team,” St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino said. “I have no complaints about this team. They give me 100% every day. Do I wish we had more wins? I do.”
With nearly all of the main contributors from last season off the roster, Pitino believes the wins will start piling up for St. John’s as his roster continues to gain continuity.
One key returner, Zuby Ejiofor, led the Red Storm with 18 points at Butler. Bryce Hopkins supplemented that with 17.
“(Tuesday) was a big opportunity to come on the road and get a win and we have another opportunity on the road at Creighton,” Hopkins said. “The biggest message that we talked about was coming together and having each other’s backs while we’re in these tough environments and facing adversity.”
Like St. John’s, Creighton (10-6, 4-1) also weathered a slow start to its season. Following their first loss in conference play to Seton Hall, the Bluejays brought home a road win of their own, a 76-72 result at Villanova, on Wednesday.
Austin Swartz has been a big reason for the Bluejays’ success lately, averaging 17.9 points per game since joining the starting lineup seven games ago.
“Obviously their length and athletic ability, but their talent is off the charts,” Creighton head coach Greg McDermott said of St. John’s. “They responded well with their win at Butler and we responded (against Villanova) so we have to get home and we have to get some work done the next couple of days and we’ll have a great crowd out there on Saturday.”
