St. John's cruises past Providence to advance to Big East Tournament semifinals

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News on Mar 12, 2026

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NEW YORK — There wasn’t another fight in Thursday afternoon’s rematch between St. John’s and Providence.

Not in the literal sense, nor in a basketball sense.

Behind smothering first-half defense and double-doubles from Zuby Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins, St. John’s cruised past Providence, 85-72, at Madison Square Garden to advance to the Big East Tournament semifinals.

On Friday night, top-seeded St. John’s is set to face the winner of No. 4 Seton Hall and No. 5 Creighton, who play Thursday afternoon.

“We played awesome defense today,” head coach Rick Pitino said. “Especially the first half, [it] was as good as we played all year.”

A day after he was named the unanimous Big East Player of the Year, Ejiofor led the Red Storm with 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting, 10 rebounds, five assists and three blocks.

Hopkins, facing his former team, added 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting and a game-high 13 rebounds.

It was the first meeting between the teams since they brawled on Feb. 14 — a heated fracas that started when Providence’s Duncan Powell struck a driving Hopkins in the head.

Seven players were ejected that day, escalating an already-tense rivalry that stemmed from Hopkins transferring from Providence to St. John’s last offseason.

But in his final game against the Friars, Hopkins got the last laugh Thursday, delivering a pair of first-half dunks — including a highlight-worthy tomahawk — as St. John’s pulled away.

“I try not to make it about me,” said Hopkins, an outgoing graduate student. “I know there was attention coming into the game, me playing my former team. But the biggest thing was just playing through my teammates, not doing too much and coming out with the win.”

Despite its subpar record, Providence (15-18, 7-13 Big East) proved in the regular season to be a tough opponent for Big East-winning St. John’s (26-6, 18-2).

The Friars dealt St. John’s one of its two Big East losses — on Jan. 3 at the Garden — and led in the second half of last month’s 79-69 victory by the Red Storm in Providence.

The ninth-seeded Friars appeared dangerous once again after defeating Butler, 91-81, in Wednesday’s conference tournament opener — a game in which Providence shot 14 of 27 on 3-pointers.

But Thursday was never in doubt for St. John’s, which opened the game on a 9-0 run and did not trail at any point.

Hopkins’ steal and ensuing dunk in transition made it a 20-5 game. His second dunk put St. John’s up, 41-21, and he drilled a 3-pointer two possessions later. St. John’s led, 48-27, at halftime.

After Wednesday’s 3-point barrage, Providence went 0 for 5 from deep in the first half. The Friars did not make a 3-pointer until there was 15:41 left in the game.

“I just said, ‘Run them off the line. Get them to take twos, not threes,’ ” Pitino said, adding, “I said, ‘The only way this team can beat us is from the 3-point line,’ so we were not going to let them have that edge.”

Providence freshman Stefan Vaaks caught fire in the second half, sinking three 3-pointers in a six-minute span to cut the deficit to 65-53.

But St. John’s responded with a dagger 10-0 run, capped by a Dillon Mitchell dunk off of a lob from Ian Jackson.

“It’s really tough to play with a lead,” Pitino said. “This environment, everybody wants to play great in Madison Square Garden. Everybody. Regardless of your record, it doesn’t matter, they want to play great. … We played great defense and shared the basketball and did a lot of really good things.”

Vaaks led Providence with 23 points and went 5 of 9 on 3-pointers, while Jaylin Sellers — the Big East’s leading scorer — added 21.

But the Friars finished just 5-of-13 on 3-pointers as a team.

Coming off of a first-round bye, fresh-legged St. John’s scored 23 fastbreak points, forced 11 turnovers and outrebounded Providence, 51-30.

The St. John’s bench outscored Providence’s, 30-4, with Jackson leading the reserves with 14 points.

And the final score made the game appear closer than it was, as Providence finished on an 11-0 run — after Ejiofor and Hopkins had already checked out for good.

“Give St. John’s a ton of credit, they were fired up,” said Providence head coach Kim English. “I feel like we started off a little sluggish. Having such little rest in between games, I think, puts that team at a major disadvantage.”

Fresh off of their second consecutive outright Big East regular-season championship, the Red Storm seek to win the Big East Tournament for a second year in a row.

They got one step closer Thursday, leaving them two wins away from another trophy.

“There’s a championship on the line,” Ejiofor said. “And this is just a stepping stone.”