No. 1 seed St. John’s defeated No. 2 seed UConn 72-52 on Saturday in the Big East Tournament championship game for its second consecutive conference tournament win under coach Rick Pitino. The Red Storm recorded a wire-to-wire win for the third consecutive day.
On the eve of Selection Sunday, St. John’s (28-6) made one final statement to the committee with a convincing victory over UConn (29-5), a team vying for the final No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
After struggling in the last matchup against UConn, St. John’s star big man Zuby Ejiofor had a performance to remember. He finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks — which set a record for the most blocks in a Big East title game. The other player who accomplished the feat was Patrick Ewing (Georgetown) in 1984.
Now, UConn and St. John’s will await their seeding on Selection Sunday. The Big East is expected to send three teams to the tournament: UConn, St. John’s and Villanova.
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Get up-to-date results, plus what they mean for the NCAA Tournament bubble and seeding with our CBS Sports Bracketology LIVE BLOG.
2026 Big East Tournament scores, results
First round — Wednesday, March 11
Game 1: No. 9 Providence 91, No. 8 Butler 81 | Recap
Game 2: No. 10 Xavier 89, No. 7 Marquette 87 | Recap
Game 3: No. 11 Georgetown 63, No. 6 DePaul 56 | Recap
Quarterfinals — Thursday, March 12
Game 4: No. 1 St. John’s 85, No. 9 Providence 72 | Recap
Game 5: No. 4 Seton Hall 72, No. 5 Creighton 61 | Recap
Game 6: No. 2 UConn 93, No. 10 Xavier 68 | Recap
Game 7: No. 11 Georgetown 78, No. 3 Villanova 64 | Recap
Semifinals — Friday, March 13
Game 8: No.1 St. John’s 78, No. 4 Seton Hall 68 | Recap
Game 9: No. 2 UConn 67, No. 11 Georgetown 51 | Recap
Big East Tournament Championship Game — Saturday, March 14
Game 10: No.1 St. John’s 72, No. 2 UConn 52 | Recap
