St. John's head Rick Pitino drops awesome truth bomb after beating UConn

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Storrs, Connecticut may be the basketball capital of the world and home of the two-time defending National Champion UConn Huskies, but on Friday night, it was the St. John’s Red Storm who proved that for at least this season, the best team in the Big East likely resides in New York City. Despite trailing by 14 points at the under-12 timeout in the 1st half, the Johnnie’s stormed back — pun intended — to defeat the Huskies 68-62, capping off an impressive week in which they also defeated Marquette.

After the win, St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino took to the podium and explained that his team’s approach remains the same no matter who they’re about to step on the floor against, whether it’s a massive road clash against Dan Hurley and the Huskies, or a home tilt against the cellar-dwellers of the Big East.

Rick Pitino on St. John’s:

“The thing that’s great about this team: we take nothing for granted. Humility. We said this word more than what’s in the Bible. Humility is the key to greatness. We keep staying humble, it makes us hungry. We have great respect for everybody we play” pic.twitter.com/NpsjbiBNXA

— SNY (@SNYtv) February 8, 2025

So far, this approach has worked incredibly well for Rick Pitino’s squad. After the win over UConn, St. John’s now sits atop the Big East with a 12-1 record in conference, and a 21-3 record overall. Their three losses have come by a combined 5 points to Baylor, Georgia and Creighton, a trio of opponents that would currently be in the NCAA Tournament field, and Pitino, who is in his 37th year of coaching, could be on his way to a regular season conference championship with a sixth different program.

Additionally, a pair of wins this week over UConn and Marquette — the two teams most assumed would be the best in the Big East this year — raises an important question… is it time we start looking at St. John’s as a bonafide National Title contender? The Johnnie’s last played in a Final Four 40 years ago, but this year’s team could very well ride humility all the way to San Antonio.

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