St. John's wins back-to-back Big East outright regular-season titles for first time in program history
St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor carries the Big East championship trophy into the locker room after St. John’s defeated Seaton Hall for the title on Friday, March 6, 2026. Credit: St. John's Athletics
St. John’s is alone at the top.
The 18th-ranked Red Storm clinched at least a share of the Big East regular-season title Friday night with a 72-65 win over Seton Hall at Prudential Center. But No. 4 Connecticut failed to earn its share of first place when it was upset by Marquette, 68-62, on Saturday in Milwaukee, making the Red Storm the outright regular-season champion for a second straight year.
St. John’s (25-6, 18-2) had never won the Big East outright regular-season title in consecutive years and is the first school to do it since Villanova won its fourth in a row in 2016-17.
The greatness of this St. John’s “first” is magnified by it occurring in an era in which the NCAA transfer portal is so key in team building. The Red Storm brought back only Zuby Ejiofor from last season’s starting five.
“We have won back-to-back championships with two different teams, and that’s not easy to do,” coach Rick Pitino said after Friday’s win. “There’s been one common denominator and that’s [Ejiofor].”
“It’s not easy,” Ejiofor said. “It takes everybody committed to one main goal in winning, and I think we did a really special thing tonight.”
No. 1-seeded St. John’s will face the winner of Wednesday’s game between eighth-seeded Butler and ninth-seeded Providence in a Big East Tournament quarterfinal at the Garden on Thursday at noon.
“I’m real proud for St. John’s [and] very proud for the players,” Pitino said. “It was a great win and the Big East Tournament’s a lot of fun, but the regular season means the most because that’s your body of work for the entire year.”
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.
