Fans Pack MSG For St. John’s vs Creighton
Rick Pitino and the St. John’s Red Storm are invading Madison Square Garden for their final home game of the season. Ticket demands for their game vs Seton Hall were so high that the venue had to be moved away from Carnesecca Arena in Queens, New York. The Red Storm’s home gym capacity of 5,602 isn’t enough to hold the number of rabid fans that are now swarming toward the success of their reinvigorated program. MSG’s capacity of 19,812 should be enough to hold the ballooning fanbase, though.
Even with all of his success and accomplishments, head coach Rick Pitino is still blown away by the support shown by the fans, the fact that they again hosted a sold-out game at The Garden. Pitino stated in his postgame interview after defeating Creighton that the rapid success of the program doesn’t surprise him as much as the fanbase and crowds have.
“The only thing I’m really surprised about is the fan base packing The Garden… that’s the only thing I’m surprised about, everything else I was hoping for to see if it would happen.”
Pitino also realizes the significance of selling out the world’s most famous arena as more than just support for his program, but also what it means to be embraced by New York as a whole.
“These are now Knicks crowds. Like last year’s Knicks team with their toughness and New York strong, we’re doing what they did last year, and that’s why the fans are coming out.”
St. John’s will finish out the year hosting two more games at Madison Square Garden, with UConn on February 23rd, and Seton Hall on March 1st.
St. John’s Leads Conference with Five Games Left
The Red Storm (13-2) are currently first in the Big East and hold a two-game lead over Creighton with only five games left to go in the regular season. They were also just named as the 4th seed in the newest bracketology which was only due to the lack of strength in their Big East schedule.
Rick Pitino is also in the running for coach of the year in many eyes with what he has been able to accomplish with this program. With last year’s NCAA tournament snub still in the back of their minds, the Red Storm may soon wreak havoc in the March Madness tournament and show that they are a mainstay in the postseason as long as Pitino is there.
How Far Can St. John’s Go?
The sky seems to be the limit for any team coached by Rick Pitino. On top of being the only coach in NCAA history to win a national title with two different teams, he holds the third best winning record in tournament history among active coaches (.720). In his first year with St. John’s, he led them to a 20-9 overall record with a 13-9 conference record. This year they sit at 22-4 overall with a 13-2 conference record. The power of the Pitino effect cannot be understated as the Red Storm stand at the threshold of their first March Madness appearance in six years.
Everything seems to be trending in the right direction for St. John’s, especially with the early return of Deivon Smith who turned the tide for the Red Storm against Creighton. Smith wasn’t expected back from injury until after the next game against UConn but decided that he was good enough to go on Sunday which completely took Pitino by surprise. “It was one of the biggest shocks of the year for me,” said Pitino when asked about Smith’s return.
He also added that Smith was instrumental in the victory due to his defensive assignment on Steven Ashworth. “To be honest with you, without him tonight we don’t win this game. We were pressing the entire game, so if we didn’t have him, we don’t win this game.”
St. John’s gets ready to go on the road vs DePaul, then will resume their takeover of MSG against UConn on February 27th. They have one more home game at The Garden vs Seton Hall after Butler before wrapping up the season in a huge matchup at current #16 Marquette.
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