Top-seeded St. John's cruises past Butler and into Big East semis

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News on Mar 13, 2025

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NEW YORK — No. 6 St. John’s was not going to be caught off guard by Butler.

Not after the pesky Bulldogs played the Johnnies down to the wire in both of their regular-season meetings.

St. John’s (28-4) swept the season series, but in both games Butler (14-19) outrebounded the Red Storm and trailed by a single possession in the waning minutes.

Thursday was much, much different.

Top-seeded St. John’s thoroughly dominated ninth-seeded Butler in its 78-57 win in the Big East Tournament quarterfinal at Madison Square Garden. St. John’s will play the winner of Thursday’s game between Xavier and Marquette in the semifinal round Friday.

“We had two close games,” forward Aaron Scott said. “We didn’t want this game to be close at all. The first four minutes, we emphasized that.”

St. John’s jumped out to an early lead and never trailed, deploying a high-pressure defense that prevented Butler from finding a rhythm.

The Red Storm held the Bulldogs to 19-of-55 (34.5%) shooting and forced 15 turnovers, which they turned into 24 points.

They outrebounded Butler, 44-34, and corralled 14 offensive boards.

“We focused on blocking out,” head coach Rick Pitino said. “Our point guards did not block out in the last game off rotations. We wanted to get out in transition and make good plays, because they go to the glass hard.”

A day after he won Big East Player of the Year, St. John’s guard RJ Luis Jr. scored a game-high 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting and added seven rebounds.

He was the primary defender on Butler star Pierre Brooks II, who managed only five points on 1-of-10 shooting. It was a far cry from Wednesday’s 75-69 win over Providence, when Brooks led Butler with 25 points and went 11 of 18 from the field.

“We came out very focused,” said Luis, who has scored at least 20 points in four consecutive games. “The guys are very locked in on the game plan. The last time we played against Butler, we were playing very slow, very to their tempo, and this game we were able to pick up the tempo and play a lot faster.”

St. John’s also got 15 points, eight rebounds and nine assists from guard Kadary Richmond, who five days earlier became the first Red Storm player to record a triple-double since Ron Artest in 1999.

Scott contributed 15 points and five steals in 22 minutes.

Butler faced a near-immediate disadvantage when Jahmyl Telfort, the Big East’s eighth-leading scorer, drew his second foul with 17:55 left in the first half, sending him to the bench.

The Bulldogs trailed, 15-3, when Telfort returned to the game more than four minutes later. They were down, 18-3, when the senior forward scored his first points at the 11:42 mark of the first half.

Telfort finished with 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting.

Failing to pick up the slack was Brooks, the Big East’s 11th-leading scorer, whom St. John’s held without a point until he made a pair of free throws with 4.9 seconds left in the first half.

Brooks missed his first eight shot attempts and finished 0 of 5 from 3-point range.

“Just being aggressive,” Luis said of his smothering defense. “Trying to deny the ball so he doesn’t catch it and trying to put pressure on the ball. I picked up my defensive presence this year as far as being one of the better two-way players in the country. I just take pride in that.”

St. John’s is now 10-0 at the Garden.

The commanding victory served as a statement for the resurgent Red Storm, who are the conference tournament’s favorites after winning their first outright Big East regular-season championship since 1985.

This is the second season in a row St. John’s has advanced to the semifinal. The Johnnies seek their first trip to the final since 2000, which is the last time they won the Big East Tournament.

“I told the guys that a ‘five-plus performance’ is a Michael Jordan performance,” Pitino said of Thursday’s victory. “We were a four-star tonight, which was good enough to win.”