NEW YORK (AP) — Zuby Ejiofor’s penultimate regular-season home game at St. John’s was certainly a memorable one.
The senior big man had 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his first career triple-double as the 15th-ranked Red Storm bounced back from an embarrassing defeat by routing Villanova 89-57 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
“It means everything to have this type of performance, especially with my family in the crowd as well,” Ejiofor said.
The 6-foot-9, 245-pound Ejiofor, who also blocked three shots, had the fifth triple-double by a St. John’s player since the 1985-86 season, the school said. It was the second in the past 26 years, after Kadary Richmond had one in the regular-season finale last year at Marquette.
Ejiofor, the preseason Big East player of the year, said it was probably his first triple-double in organized basketball.
“Incredible for the 5-man on your team to get 10 assists. But he is the team leader in assists. And he was very well rested because he took a day off against Connecticut,” Red Storm coach Rick Pitino said, prompting chuckles at his postgame news conference.
St. John’s was coming off a 72-40 loss Wednesday night at No. 6 UConn, where the Johnnies shot 20% and missed their last 24 field-goal attempts over the final 17:27 in by far their largest defeat in three seasons under Pitino.
That ended a 13-game winning streak — the longest for the program in 41 years.
In a game that got away quickly in the first half, Ejiofor finished with six points, four rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes. He took only five shots from the field.
It was a much different story against Villanova
“You knew Zuby wasn’t going to come out and lay an egg,” Wildcats coach Kevin Willard said. “He was phenomenal defensively, the way he was switching, talking, communicating. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They played well.”
With the sellout crowd of 19,812 aware Ejiofor needed one more assist for a triple-double, he sealed it by passing to Joson Sanon for a jumper with 3:12 remaining.
Soon after that, Ejiofor was removed to a rousing ovation. He called it a “special moment.”
“The last two possessions, I was just playing within the flow of the offense,” Ejiofor said.
St. John’s plays its final regular-season home game Tuesday night against Georgetown at The Garden, and Pitino implored fans to come out and honor the relentless Ejiofor on Senior Night.
“I became a man in this program. Coach Pitino, for the last three years now, has been guiding me through this whole process. Not just with the game of basketball, but just life in general. I’m really blessed to be able to put on this jersey each and every night,” said Ejiofor, a backup in his first season at St. John’s after transferring from Kansas.
“Not just the basketball, but I feel like I grew. I literally grew up here the past three years.”
Ian Jackson added 19 points and a career-high five steals off the bench for the Red Storm (23-6, 16-2 Big East), who raced to a 30-point lead in the first half and remained a half-game behind UConn atop the conference standings.
Villanova set a season low for points in its most-lopsided defeat since a 93-56 blowout in February 1997 at No. 3 Kentucky, coached then by Pitino.
Oziyah Sellers scored 14 in the Johnnies’ largest victory over Villanova, their most-frequent opponent. St. John’s leads 68-67 in a series that dates to the 1909-1910 season.
Duke Brennan scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half for the Wildcats (22-7, 13-5), who had won seven of eight. They will be the No. 3 seed in the Big East Tournament.
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