The chant is like nails on a chalkboard to St. John’s and its fans, especially when it happens inside Madison Square Garden.
“U-C-O-N-N, UConn, UConn, UConn” is nightmare fuel for the Johnnies, bringing back painful memories of Connecticut fans overrunning the Garden during a pair of wins over the Johnnies in the arena last season.
Sunday afternoon, St. John’s and its win-starved fan base can quiet those agitating tormentors at a sold-out MSG.
“For the most part of the season, it’s always been like a sea of red, Johnnies fans packing MSG, and that’s something that we need and that’s something that we thrive off of,” junior forward Zuby Ejiofor said. “The energy and the support that they show us on a given night is just something we expect coming up against UConn.”
For the first time since the Huskies rejoined the Big East five years ago, the 10th-ranked Johnnies can sweep the back-to-back reigning national champions and officially end their pursuit of a second straight regular-season conference crown.
In doing so, the Red Storm would be a step closer to the school’s first outright regular-season league title since the 1984-85 campaign.
St. John’s enters Sunday’s showdown two games up in the loss column on Creighton and three ahead of Connecticut and No. 16 Marquette with four games to go.
A victory over the Huskies, and the odds of anyone catching the Red Storm lessen significantly.
“Such a big stage, such a big arena, such a big game coming up,” sophomore guard Simeon Wilcher said. “It’s really hard to put into words how excited I am, especially just for the environment.”
There will be UConn fans in the building, no doubt about that, but the Red Storm are expected to have the significant edge.
St. John’s fans have shown up during this breakout season, selling out last Sunday’s win over Creighton, for instance.
In seven Garden dates this season, the Johnnies’ average attendance has been 16,188, an impressive number in a pro town.
New York City has wrapped its arms around this gritty team, which hasn’t lost at full strength since New Year’s Eve.
“They’re gonna show out, believe me,” coach Rick Pitino said of the St. John’s fans. “I mean, we already have 16,000 seats sold for Seton Hall, so they’re going to show up. But Connecticut’s the Kentucky of the East. They travel great, and they show up everywhere.”
There was some uncertainty if St. John’s would be whole against Connecticut. Leading scorer RJ Luis is dealing with a pulled groin and missed Wednesday’s win over DePaul.
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But Luis practiced Saturday and is trending toward being available. That is good news for St. John’s (23-4, 14-2), which went a month without a healthy Deivon Smith — the lead guard who looked like his pre-injury self against DePaul — and only lost once, at Villanova, in that span.
With or without Luis, St. John’s will have plenty of confidence it can beat Connecticut.
It already topped the Huskies on Feb. 7 in Storrs, Conn., and did so despite what Pitino felt was a mistake-filled performance.
St. John’s spotted UConn a 14-point lead, then rallied behind a dominant defensive effort in which the Huskies were held to 32 points over the final 31:38.
That victory came at the outset of a difficult six-game stretch that was a litmus test for St. John’s.
It included meetings with upper-echelon Big East foes Villanova, Marquette, Creighton and two matchups against Connecticut.
So far, the Johnnies are 4-1.
The supposed gauntlet comes to a close Sunday, offering the Red Storm an opportunity to put an exclamation point at the end of it.
“We know exactly what’s at [stake],” Ejiofor said. “We just got to get it done, whatever it takes.”
