The St. John's basketball team was in a close game against Marquette on Wednesday. St. John's held off the Golden Eagles from completing the comeback and won the game 76-70. The Red Storm is 21-5 and has continued its march to stay in the Big East title contention with UConn, especially by winning on the road. Head coach Rick Pitino had a message for his team: stay with it, because they have been in games like that before.
In the postgame press conference, Rick Pitino addressed what he told his team and why they were able to stay in the game despite Marquette making consistent runs. That message clearly resonated with the Red Storm, and they held off Marquette for a big road win.
“When momentum swung their way, my message to the guys was, ‘we’ve been here before,’” he said. “ ‘Don’t panic, we’ve been here before. We’re going to have our run,’ and they 100 percent didn’t panic, played like a veteran team.”
Bryce Hopkins was the standout for the Red Storm. He led the team in points and rebounds with 23 and 10. He also did that with the Marquette student section taunting him after the hard foul Providence player Duncan Powell had on him last week, which sparked a big brawl.
“It meant a lot to me to see them have my back on Saturday,” Hopkins said. “This brotherhood we keep on building, we love it, and it starts in practice. We play off of each other, and we love each other.”
“It meant a lot to me to see them have my back on Saturday,” Hopkins said. “This brotherhood we keep on building, we love it, and it starts in practice. We play off of each other, and we love each other.”
Marquette did get within two late, but Zuby Ejiofor sank two clutch free throws with 21.7 seconds to go, and Hopkins secured the defensive rebound on the other end, and hit another two at the charity stripe.
Still, the Red Storm were just too much for Marquette. Thanks to UConn's home loss against Creighton, St. John's also moved into sole possession of first place in the Big East.
