St. John’s has a goal on its again.
As the highest seed on this week’s Massive East Match, the red-hot Pink Storm are the workforce to beat at Madison Sq. Backyard.
And so they wouldn’t have it some other approach.
“I think it’s great having a target on your back,” head coach Rick Pitino mentioned Wednesday.
“The team knows it. They have to bring it. Boxers get knocked out because they’re overconfident. They put their hands down. … You’ve got to keep your guard up and be ready. And this team never takes anybody lightly.”
The Johnnies’ first bout is about for Thursday afternoon in opposition to the ninth-seeded Butler Bulldogs, who beat Windfall, 75-69, in Wednesday’s opening spherical. St. John’s didn’t play Wednesday after incomes a first-round bye.
St. John’s (27-4) swept Butler (14-18) within the common season however each video games had been shut. These included final month’s 76-70 victory in Indianapolis during which the Bulldogs outrebounded the Pink Storm and trailed by solely two factors with simply over a minute remaining.
However tight video games are nothing new for St. John’s.
Seven of the Pink Storm’s final 10 video games had been determined by six factors or fewer, and so they gained all however one in all them.
Opponents ceaselessly gave their greatest in opposition to St. John’s, which completed 18-2 in convention play and gained its first outright Massive East regular-season championship since 1985.
“It’s great preparation,” St. John’s ahead Zuby Ejiofor mentioned. “Throughout the entire year, we’ve kind of been in that 1-2 range. I couldn’t really have pictured this moment, but we all believed that we were gonna be the best team in the league and we were gonna win the Big East.
“To see that come into fruition is really special. We’ve just got to stick to our identity and stay level-headed, because we’ve still got a lot more to prove.”
The Pink Storm’s wonderful perimeter protection can be examined by a Butler workforce that shot 37.1% on 3-point makes an attempt within the common season. Jahmyl Telfort averaged 16.2 factors per recreation, which ranked eighth within the convention, whereas fellow ahead Pierre Brooks II averaged 15.2 factors per recreation, which ranked eleventh.
Brooks scored 25 factors in Wednesday’s win, whereas Telfort added 16.
“It’s hard to beat a team three times,” St. John’s guard RJ Luis Jr. mentioned, talking broadly earlier than Thursday’s matchup was set.
“I think pressure is great,” Luis mentioned. “It obviously comes with success. If we didn’t want to have this type of pressure, we would have never won the regular-season championship. We would have never been ranked No. 6 in the nation. I think pressure is a great thing, and I think the main thing really is just staying humble.”
St. John’s seeks to win its first Massive East Match since 2000, which can also be the final yr it gained an NCAA Match recreation.
Butler, in the meantime, enters Thursday’s recreation with a distinct sort of urgency, understanding it must win the Massive East Match — and thus develop into the convention’s computerized qualifier — to make the Massive Dance.
“When you’re atop the Big East, you always have a target on your back,” Ejiofor mentioned. “It’s a good thing to have. It’s a good problem to have. Every team is going to give you their best game, and we embrace the challenge. We’re all ready for it.”
