With Madison Square Garden aptly decorated in all red and a buzz around the New York City area, and with fans of both the Red Storm and Wildcats filling into the seats, it was a thriller in the World’s Most Famous Arena as St. John’s Defeated Villanova 80-68.
RJ Luis Jr. had himself a night that is going to be remembered and talked about as he scored 30-points in the team’s victory.
Luis Jr. put himself in the team’s record books with his performance at Madison Square Garden as he connected on 16 free throws and got himself tied for fourth most in program history; that is the most since Marcus Hatten made 21 in 2002.
What is incredible for the 2024-25 edition of the squad is that they are able to achieve feats that they have not seen in a while, including a 5-1 BIG EAST Mark, which is a first in 24 years.
Fans are encouraged to give a view to the photo gallery with moments before the game…by 1495Sports:
In a Basketball game that echoed all the great battles that took place in the World’s Most Famous Arena during the course of the years, things went back-and-forth buckets wise between the Wildcats and Red Storms.
The action was so thrilling that the 18,178 that were in attendance, were getting into an enthusiatic back and forth into the events that were happening on the court.
Some of the impressive stats from the game compliments of the St. John’s Public Relations Department is the fact that the game itself had six ties and 18 lead changes.
St. John’s is on a roll as they have been able to win nine of the last 10 games and have an impressive 11-0 mark between Madison Square Garden and Carnesecca Arena.
Some of the other impressive performances for the Red Storm came from Kadary Richmond, as he had some of the impressive moments of the game. There were many impressive low post drives for Richmond as he was able to penetrate the impressive Villanova Defense.
Included in the night were thunderous dunks from the guys on the court that got the crowd in attendance rocking, including a rim shaker by Simeon Wilcher at the 9:50 mark in the First Half.
Deivon Smith and Aaron Scott had impressive performances with 12 points each to go along with an 11-point night from Zuby Ejiofor.
The night was such an incredible atmosphere and night that after the performance the team all gathered around midcourt after the handshakes to give the fans in attendance a round of applause.
St. John’s looks to defend home court on Tuesday, January 14 as they host Georgetown in BIG EAST Conference play. The game between the Red Storm and the Hoyas is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. with fans catching the action on the Peacock Network.
For more information on the St. John’s Athletics Department fans are encouraged to click on the link seen here:
St. John’s University Athletics – Official Athletics Website