3 takeaways from St. John's bounce-back win over Villanova
Villanova guard Tyler Perkins, left, defends St. John's forward Zuby Ejiofor during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game on Feb. 28, 2026, in New York. Credit: AP Photo/John Munson
St. John’s answered its embarrassing 32-point loss to No. 6 UConn on Wednesday with a resounding 32-point win over third-place Villanova on Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 19,812 at the Garden.
The highlights were myriad, from coach Rick Pitino changing his mind after some prompting and donning his signature white suit for the “White Out” game to Zuby Ejiofor pacing the 15th-ranked Red Storm with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, the fifth triple-double in St. John’s history.
The 89-57 win was the Red Storm’s most decisive victory over the Wildcats in 35 meetings. Their season-high 26 assists on 32 baskets was something to behold. It was Villanova’s worst defeat since a 1997 loss to Kentucky, which was coached by Pitino.
Here are three takeaways from the victory:
1. Ian Jackson and Dylan Darling made essential contributions
Jackson might have had his best game of the season, finishing with 19 points, five rebounds and five steals. In one stretch, he made steals on three consecutive Villanova possessions, all of which led to St. John’s points in a 17-3 run in the first half.
“He’s picking up a lot of different things from rebounding and steals and making himself a total player and not just a scorer,” Pitino said. “That’s what we’re trying to do more than anything else because he has the abilities. He’s long. He’s fast. He’s intelligent . . . He can become the best defensive guard on the team.”
Darling got his first start since the Dec. 6 win over Ole Miss and finished with seven points, four assists and two steals. He set the tone early by scoring or assisting on 10 points as the Red Storm took an 11-2 lead.
Oziyah Sellers scored 14 points, making it a strong all-around game for the St. John’s guards, which is a good omen.
“The backcourt is what wins in the NCAA [Tournament],” Pitino said. “You have to have a great backcourt, that’s how you win . . . Keep improving there [and] we will be tough.”
2. Decision week in the Big East: It's complicated
UConn (27-3, 17-2) has a half-game lead on the Red Storm (23-6, 16-2) entering the week. The Huskies’ final game is Saturday at Marquette. St. John’s will face Georgetown on Tuesday at the Garden and will visit fourth-place Seton Hall on Friday. If both St. John’s and UConn win out — never easy in the Big East — they will share the regular-season title and the conference tournament seeding will be determined by a tiebreaker.
The teams split the season series; UConn has a loss to Creighton and St. John’s has a loss to Providence. If UConn and St. John’s tie and Creighton finishes ahead of the Friars in the standings, St. John’s will get the No. 1 seed, but if Providence finishes even or ahead of the Bluejays, the Huskies will get the No. 1 seed.
It gets even more complicated if Providence, Creighton and other teams end up with the same record. At that point, the teams in that tie are ordered based on their collective records against each other. Once that’s done, those results get applied to break the tie between the Red Storm and Huskies for top seeding.
3. Pitino wants a special Ejiofor send-off
Ejiofor very well may be the most significant player to don a St. John’s uniform in the past 25 years. There have been other greats — D’Angelo Harrison, Dwight Hardy and Marcus Hatten, to name a few — but the 6-9 center’s body of work over three seasons is impressive.
Pitino believes a player like that should look up at a good crowd at the Garden on Tuesday when the seniors are feted at 6:35 p.m. before the Red Storm play Georgetown at 7 in their final home game.
Sellers, Sadiku Ibine Ayo, Dillon Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins also will be among those celebrated.
“One thing we need to do is we really need to get people, get everybody, behind the Georgetown game,” Pitino said. “Get the place packed because Zuby deserves that. Zuby has given so much to this program, his heart and soul . . . We really need to pack Madison Square Garden just to honor him alone, as well as the rest of the guys.”
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.
