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St. John's Wins First Big East Tournament Title in 25 Years

The Red Storm rolled through the Big East competition.

Gavin Dorsey

Mar 15, 2025; New York, NY, USA; St. John's Red Storm guard Kadary Richmond (1) controls the ball against Creighton Bluejays guard Steven Ashworth (1) during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Mar 15, 2025; New York, NY, USA; St. John's Red Storm guard Kadary Richmond (1) controls the ball against Creighton Bluejays guard Steven Ashworth (1) during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Red Storm's historic 2025 season continued Saturday as St. John's (30-4, 18-2 Big East) won its fourth Big East Tournament title in program history, defeating Creighton, 82-66.

St. John's struggled to shoot the ball early and trailed Creighton at halftime, but the Red Storm erupted for 57 second-half points and eventually pulled away from the Bluejays, outscoring their opponents by 19 in the final period.

Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. led St. John's with 29 points and 10 rebounds, while Zuby Ejiofor added 20. Creighton had four starters in double figures, but just two bench points.

St John's' 30 wins this season are the third-most in program history, trailing only the 1985 (31-4) and 1986 (31-5) teams.

The Red Storm had most recently won the Big East Tournament in 2000. The 25-year drought was previously the longest active gap between tournament titles. Four teams — Creighton, Butler, DePaul and Xavier — have never won the Big East Tournament.

St. John's also won the Big East Tournament in 1983 and 1986. In the Red Storm's Final Four 1985 season, they were runners-up to Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas.

With the Red Storm's victory, Rick Pitino became the first head coach in NCAA history to win a conference tournament with five different schools. Pitino won the ECAC Tournament once at Boston, the SEC Tournament five times at Kentucky, the ACC Tournament six times at Louisville and the MAAC Tournament twice at Iona.

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi currently predicts the Red Storm will be a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, placing them against No. 15 seed Omaha in the West Region. St. John's is ranked No. 6 in the latest AP Poll.

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Gavin Dorsey
GAVIN DORSEY

Gavin Dorsey is the Lead Writer for Northwestern Wildcats On SI and covers a handful of other teams in the On SI network, including the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Guardians, Houston Texans and Ohio State Buckeyes. Before joining On SI in February 2025, he wrote for the Star Tribune and Inside NU while broadcasting college sports for both radio and television. Dorsey is a graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, where he also studied psychology. In his free time, he enjoys running and being outdoors. Dorsey is currently a freelance writer for the Associated Press, covering Chicago area sports teams.

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