NEWARK – The Seton Hall Pirates men’s basketball team (20-11, 10-10 BE) concluded their Big East regular season with a loss to the no.18 St. John’s Red Storm (25-6, 18-2 BE) Friday, losing 72-65. The Red Storm sweep the season series after previously beating the Pirates at Madison Square Garden on January 20.
Even with a late 9 p.m. tipoff, the Prudential Center crowd was thunderous from both fanbases. The crowd rivaled what the Seton Hall faithful witnessed on January 13 when they welcomed at the time no.3 UConn to the building. This time, there was much more at stake.
For St. John’s, a win would clinch a share of the Big East Regular Season title and the top seed in the Big East Tournament. For Seton Hall, it was a chance for them to earn a Quad 1 victory and bolster their resume for the NCAA Tournament on Senior Night.
Unfortunately for Seton Hall, their rivals from Queens prevailed.
Throughout the past few seasons, St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor has morphed into one of the premier players in college basketball. It’s why entering the 2025-2026 season, he was named the Big East Preseason Player of the Year. Friday night proved why that was factually correct.
Ejiofor ended the night with a game-high 21 points and three blocks. However, while the scoring numbers were nice, it was Ejiofor’s leadership that St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino was amazed by.
“When he was on the bench, every timeout, he came in the huddle and after I was done, he spoke to the team about what they have to do defensively,” Pitino said following the game. “Every timeout. Not one, not twice, every single timeout. I’ve never had a player talk like that in timeouts.”
With his time at St. John’s nearing the end, Ejiofor reflected on what kind of impact he wanted to leave following the game.
“Just a guy that gave 100% effort each and every time on the court. I don’t play for the name on my back, but as coach says all the time, play for the name in the front, play for your brothers, play for your teammates and I think that I’ve done a great job doing that.”
Another player that has been impactful like Ejiofor also performed well, albeit for Seton Hall. Freshman Najai Hines played great off the bench, providing 11 points, five rebounds and a block. On a night where the shots weren’t falling for the Pirates, Hines was a necessary spark for them.
Speaking of the shooting numbers for Seton Hall, it was once again an issue for them. Shooting 41% from the field, 9% from three and 67% from the free-throw line. That won’t win many games.
“I thought we played hard, not smart,” Seton Hall head coach Shaheen Holloway said postgame. “When we play at home, we are like a different team, I don’t know why.”
Now with the regular season finished, the Pirates will set sail for this year’s Big East Tournament next week. Their first game of the conference tournament will take place on Thursday, March 12 with tipoff slated for 2:30 p.m on Peacock and NBCSN. They will play either Creighton or DePaul.
