Rivalries are great for sports. Think of the excitement in a Yankees/Red Sox game, the collective vitriol when the Celtics play the Lakers, or the joy of Rocky Balboa landing a punch against Apollo Creed. Two titans of their own sport meeting on the field of battle captures what so many love about sports.
At least if the game is close and entertaining; No. 15 St. John’s trip to Hartford, Conn. to face the No. 6 UConn Huskies was neither close nor entertaining.
But the main card of the Big East regular season began as advertised, with stars on both sides dominating the first act of the game.
Bryce Hopkins (8 pts, 3-14 FG) continued his recent scoring tear by scoring five of St. John’s first six points, carrying the offense to a manageable 9-6 deficit. But the Huskies, helped by defensive anchor Tarris Reed Jr. (20 pts, 11 rebs) stifling the Johnnies offense, shot themselves into a much more comfortable lead.
UConn’s longest tenured player Alex Karaban (14 pts, 6-13 FG) and projected NBA first round draft pick Braylon Mullins (9 pts, 3-9 FG) nailed a combined three three-pointers to facilitate a 21-11 advantage with 11 minutes to go in the first half.
The next three-pointer from Mullins came five minutes later, capping off a torrential 18-0 run that saw the Huskies lead 31-11. Over an eight minute stretch, St. John’s did not record a single point and allowed themselves to drown under the pressure of UConn’s defense.
As a team, the Red Storm shot 32% from the field in the first half and their usual offensive game plan of free-throws was denied, converting on only four-of-seven shots from the charity stripe. The usually dependable play of Zuby Ejiofor (6 pts, 4 rebs) and fast start from Hopkins were both extinguished by Reed and the Husky interior defense, forcing the duo to shoot 3-9 from the field.
St. John’s wealth of guard depth failed to kickstart the offense as well, with Dylan Darling (2 pts, 0-5 FG) and Oziyah Sellers (4 pts, 1-6 FG) providing no help to their struggling front court. The only bright spot for the Johnnies on offense was the shocking sparkplug play of Joson Sanon (10 pts, 3-10 FG): the ASU transfer exploded for 10 points and two three-pointers in the first 20 minutes, his best half of play this season.
Timely shots from Sanon allowed for the Red Storm to chip away at a portion of UConn’s sizable lead, allowing for St. John’s to enter the half only trailing by 15 points at 41-26, capping off the least amount of points scored in a half for the Johnnies so far this season.
Seeing their chances of a potential second straight regular season Big East title dwindle by the second, St. John’s captain finally gave them a slight glimpse of hope.
Ejiofor and Reed traded baskets to start the half, with Ejiofor nailing a three-pointer and scoring a post bucket in back-to-back possessions cutting the Husky lead to 14 at 31-45.
Those five points and solitary moments of optimism were short lived, considering that those five points from Ejiofor were the only Red Storm points of the second half until six minutes remained in the game.
St. John’s did not score a point across 10 minutes of gameplay, missing 24 straight field goals and falling behind by as much as 36 points.
The historic 13 game win streak that the Johnnies held for nearly two months was gone, dashed by their bitter rivals UConn by a 72-40 final score. The Red Storm shot exactly 20% across the full game, only scoring 12 points in the paint to UConn’s 40. They made two field goals in the entire second half, exemplifying the utter annihilation they suffered in Hartford.
A loss to the Huskies hurts St. John’s chances for a Big East title, but it doesn’t completely destroy them. The Red Storm still holds the cards of their own fate and will stay as the top seed in the Big East if they win-out, owning the tiebreaker over UConn but the Huskies are breathing down their neck.
Another test against a top tier Big East opponent awaits for the Johnnies once they return home, as a showdown in MSG against Villanova will be the Red Storm’s next must-win game on Feb. 28.
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