Rick Pitino made good on his promise to St. John’s fans.
At his inaugural press conference in March, Pitino said the Johnnys would play more games at Madison Square Garden in his first year than usual, but the Big East announced its conference schedule on Friday. And it came true.
St. John’s will play eight games, six league games, at MSG, the most since the 2014-15 season, when it played 10 games at its second home.
St. John’s played just four games at the Garden last season, and five the year before.
It will also be the first time since the 2015-16 season that St. John’s will host multiple nonconference contests at the “world’s most famous arena.”
They will face Michigan on November 13th at the annual Gavit Tipov Games, and on December 16th they will take on Fordham at MSG.
The six league games will be against Providence, Georgetown, Villanova, Creighton, Marquette and Connecticut.
Other points about scheduling:
difficult start
St. John’s opens the league on December 20th at home against Xavier, but the first nine games will be very difficult overall.
This includes a road trip against three of the best teams in the conference. They will play defending national champion Connecticut on Dec. 23, Villanova on Jan. 6 and Creighton on Jan. 13.
Providence (Jan. 10), defending league champion Marquette (Jan. 20) and Villanova (Jan. 24) come to the Garden to close out tough games.
If Johnny can get close to or even a game or two above .500 over this period, they’ll be in great shape.
third house
UBS Arena, home of the Islanders, will host three St. John’s games this year, starting with the game against Hofstra on Dec. 30.
St. John’s will also play conference foes DePaul (Feb. 6) and Seton Hall (Feb. 18) there.
It’s a little surprising that Seton Hall doesn’t play at the Garden.
But Johnny’s is trying to build a relationship with UBS, so playing against a local rival in a new arena feels like a gesture of goodwill.
St. John’s has previously played one game at UBS and the 2021 Big East/Big 12 showdown at Kansas State.
soft finish
St. John’s may have a difficult start in league play, but it’s an even easier finish.
The final three games will be against visiting Butler (Feb. 28) and DePaul (March 5), and rebuilding Georgetown MSG (March 9).
In fact, only one of the final six games will be against the NCAA Tournament team they are scheduled to face, Creighton on Feb. 25 at the Garden.
