Rick Pitino followed through on his promise to St. John’s fans.
At his introductory press conference in March, Pitino said the Red Storm would play more games at Madison Square Garden in his first season than they had in previous years.
At his introductory press conference in March, Pitino said the Red Storm would play more games at Madison Square Garden in his first season than they had in previous years.
That has come to fruition, as the Big East announced the conference schedule on Friday.
St. John’s will play six Big East games at the Garden and eight in all, the most it has played at its second home since the 2014-15 season, when it had 10 games there.
Last season, St. John’s had only four Garden games after five the previous year.
It will also be the first time since the 2015-16 season when St. John’s will play multiple non-conference contests at “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”
At the Garden, St. John’s will host Michigan in the annual Gavitt Tipoff Games on Nov. 13, and will meet Fordham on Dec. 16.
The six conference games at the Garden will be against Providence, Georgetown, Villanova, Creighton, Marquette and Connecticut.
Other takeaways on the schedule:
Difficult Start
While the Big East opener will be at Carnesecca Arena against Xavier on Dec. 20, the first nine games will be extremely challenging overall.
It includes trips to face three of the best teams in the conference: defending national champion Connecticut on Dec. 23, Villanova on Jan. 6 and Creighton on Jan. 13.
Providence (Jan. 10), defending league champion Marquette (Jan. 20) and Villanova (Jan. 24) will come to the Garden to wrap up the difficult stretch.
If the Red Storm are close to .500 through that stretch, or even a game or two above it, they will be in great shape.
A third home
UBS Arena, home to the Islanders, will host three St. John’s games this year, starting with Hofstra on Dec. 30. St. John’s will also play conference foes DePaul (Feb. 6) and Seton Hall (Feb. 18) there.
Not playing Seton Hall at the Garden is somewhat of a surprise.
But the Red Storm are trying to create a relationship with UBS Arena, so playing a local rival in the new arena feels like a goodwill gesture.
St. John’s has played one game at UBS before, against Kansas in 2021.
Soft finish
The finish to conference play is as easy as the start is difficult.
The final three games will be against projected doormats Butler (Feb. 28) and DePaul (March 5) on the road and rebuilding Georgetown at the Garden (March 9).
In fact, of the final six games, only one of them will be against a projected NCAA Tournament team, Creighton at the Garden on Feb. 25.
