In the past week, Creighton and St. John’s made national headlines for significantly different reasons.
The 15th-ranked Bluejays earned positive press for their first win over a top-ranked opponent. The Red Storm, meanwhile, wound up in the spotlight due to a lengthy postgame rant by frustrated first-year coach Rick Pitino.
Creighton hopes to follow up its most impressive win of the season and get a fifth straight victory Sunday afternoon when it visits St. John’s.
The Bluejays (20-7, 11-5 Big East) head to Madison Square Garden after clinching their ninth straight 20-win season in an 85-66 win over UConn Tuesday in Omaha, Neb. Creighton recorded its third straight double-digit victory and improved to 7-2 in the past nine games, with the two losses decided by a combined five points.
In its latest win, Creighton reached 85 points for the seventh time in the nine-game surge that began following a 62-48 loss at UConn on Jan. 17. On Tuesday, the Bluejays shot 54.7 percent from the floor, marking the 13th time they shot at least 50 percent this season.
“We played a really good game and we beat an incredible team, a team that has a legitimate chance to win a national championship,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “But we’re pretty good as well.”
Against the Huskies, Steven Ashworth led the way with 20 points, matching his second-highest total of the season. Trey Alexander added 16 and Ryan Kalkbrenner finished with 15 in a game when leading scorer Baylor Scheierman was held to 12 after he put up 27 at Butler on Feb. 17.
St. John’s (15-12, 7-9) is 3-8 since getting off to a 4-1 start in conference play. The rough patch includes the events of Feb. 18 in Elmont, N.Y. Against Seton Hall, the Red Storm blew a 19-point lead and took a 68-62 defeat, resulting in Pitino visibly expressing frustration at his players, specifically calling out Joel Soriano, Chris Ledlum, Sean Conway, Brady Dunlap and Drissa Traore.
Pitino apologized to his team and the Red Storm halted a three-game losing streak by holding on for a 90-85 win at Georgetown on Wednesday.
“I immediately went into team and told them, ‘I absolutely love you guys. I would never ever want to embarrass you. It’s my bad. I’m at fault. I should never have mentioned anybody by name. I didn’t mean it,'” he said.
Jordan Dingle scored a season-high 22 for St. John’s, and RJ Luis Jr. added 15 of his 19 in the second half. The duo were a combined 17-for-28 from the field, and the Red Storm shot a season-best 57.6 percent after shooting a season-worst 33.8 percent against Seton Hall.
“We know how much he loves us, so I don’t think guys really took it too much to heart, but there was a lot of talk about it, obviously,” Dingle said after St. John’s scored 90 points for the fourth time this season and first time in Big East play. “I think that it brought us a lot closer together, and we played more connected.”
Creighton has won the past seven meetings, including a 66-65 win in Omaha on Jan. 13 when it overcame a nine-point deficit midway through the second half. The teams are meeting in Madison Square Garden for the first time since Feb. 7, 2015.
–Field Level Media