St. John's can't overlook DePaul in Big East opener on journey to replicate last year's success
St. John's Red Storm forward Zuby Ejiofor blocks a shot by Iona Gaels guard Kosy Akametu in the second half of an NCAA men’s basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
In the moments before St. John’s tipped off its opener against Quinnipiac, we all got one more reminder of the Red Storm’s incredible breakthrough 2024-25 season when their Big East championship banner was unveiled. The returning players from that team received championship rings and, in the team huddle before the jump ball, Sadiku Ibine Ayo told teammates, “Let’s get another one.”
The ceremony landed with the new Red Storm players. As Dillon Mitchell put it, “When you watch that, you want to be a part of it.”
If they’re going to be, it starts on Tuesday night with No. 22 St. John’s Big East opener against DePaul at 7 p.m. at Carnesecca Arena.
The Red Storm are defending an outright regular-season title for the first time in 40 years and a conference tournament title for the first time in 25 years.
Many might not see the importance of beating the Blue Demons, who will be a prohibitive underdog. Partly it’s because St. John’s is still seeking a first high-profile win after dropping its three contests against nationally ranked opponents, and Saturday’s date against Kentucky in Atlanta looms. And partly it’s because DePaul has a NET ranking of 147, which is 10th of 11 Big East schools.
But Tuesday’s contest is that most dangerous of propositions: the high-risk, low-reward game.
If the Red Storm prevail, they will have done exactly what they were supposed to do. If they lose, it has the potential to do all sorts of damage to the program’s positioning in the NCAA Tournament field.
Because of DePaul’s low NET, this would be a Quad 3 win if St. John’s prevails. The last time St. John’s lost a Quad 3 game was against Boston College at Barclays Center in Rick Pitino’s ninth game with the Red Storm. He was apoplectic afterward, calling the performance “abominable.” And when St. John’s didn’t make the 2024 NCAA Tournament field, that bad loss was a profile-killer.
The Red Storm may not have a signature win right now, but that may be the reason they also don’t have a bad loss. After each of their losses to No. 4 Iowa State, No. 16 Alabama and No. 21 Auburn, Pitino said the defense and rebounding were not good enough. What we have seen since — in wins over Ole Miss and Iona — has been their best defense of the season.
The Rebels were held to 36% shooting, 13% on three-point attempts. With the Gaels, it was 38% and 26%.
“We realized we weren’t a very good defensive team and I told the guys, ‘Guys, don’t listen to what everybody’s saying about last year’s team because last year’s team, around Christmastime, they weren’t very good defensively either,’ ” Pitino said Saturday after beating Iona. “They became one of the great defensive teams in the nation. So I think we can get to that point.”
Zuby Ejiofor has been at the forefront of turning the tide. The Red Storm tri-captain had eight blocked shots in each of the past two games and averaged 9.5 rebounds.
It’s also worth noting that the three losses were to teams that rank in the top 13 in offensive efficiency, according to Kenpom.com.
In its pursuit of another conference title, St. John’s is going to face only one team — fifth-ranked Connecticut — that is in the same class offensively. And if Pitino is correct about this team trending like last year’s defensively, when it ranked second in the country in defensive efficiency, the Red Storm could be tough in the two February games against the Huskies.
“We’re not as good as UConn right now, but you wouldn’t expect that because UConn had three really pivotal players back,” Pitino said. “But by the end of the year, I would hope we’re at that level. We’re certainly going to fight [for] it.”
He added, “DePaul at Carnesecca is going to be a tough game . . . [You] can’t take any games lightly in this conference.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
