{"id":1150,"date":"2026-03-14T17:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T17:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/?p=1150"},"modified":"2026-03-14T17:32:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T17:32:48","slug":"uconn-and-st-johns-advance-to-big-east-tournament-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/?p=1150","title":{"rendered":"UConn and St. John\u2019s Advance to Big East Tournament Final"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New York, NY<\/em> – Friday\u2019s semifinals of the Big East Tournament<\/strong> at Madison Square Garden featured two teams that firmly controlled their matchups from start to finish. Although the final score may suggest a closer game, St. John\u2019s<\/strong> largely dominated from the opening tip, rarely taking its foot off the gas on the way to a 78\u201368 victory over the Seton Hall<\/strong> Pirates.The second semifinal followed a similar script, as UConn<\/strong> never surrendered the lead against Georgetown<\/strong>, cruising to a 67\u201351 win to punch its ticket to the championship game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. John\u2019s entered their game with a clear plan: attack the paint. Early and often in the first half, the Johnnies fed Zuby Ejiofor<\/strong> and Dillon Mitchell<\/strong> on the block, where both were able to finish with ease. When the initial shot didn\u2019t fall, they frequently drew contact and earned trips to the free-throw line. Ejiofor (20 points), Mitchell (13 points), and Bryce Hopkins<\/strong> (13 points) combined for 46 of St. John\u2019s 78 points, consistently applying pressure on Seton Hall\u2019s interior defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Seton Hall, much like in the quarterfinal round, the Pirates were led by Budd Clark<\/strong> and Jacob Dar<\/strong>. Clark finished with 17 points and showcased strong playmaking ability, adding 11 assists. Dar continued his impressive run in the Big East Tournament as well, finishing with 13 points and 4 rebounds while making multiple hustle plays that helped keep the Pirates competitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UConn was led by projected lottery pick and freshman Braylon Mullins<\/strong>. Mullins finished with 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the field and 2-pf-9 from beyond the arc. Despite the modest numbers from long distance, he showed that his game is far from dependent on his perimeter shooting. Mullins flashed some surprising back-to-the-basket ability and was particularly impressive with several difficult, off-balance midrange shots that he knocked down with ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Georgetown, Vince Iwuchukwu<\/strong> led the way with 11 points and 5 rebounds. Iwuchukwu displayed impressive athleticism throughout the game, elevating through contact and converting several tough finishes over UConn big men Eric Reibe and Tarris Reed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the semifinal round complete, the stage is now set for the Big East Tournament championship at Madison Square Garden. St. John\u2019s<\/strong> and UConn<\/strong> will meet tonight with the conference title on the line, setting up a highly anticipated matchup between two teams that looked dominant in their semifinal victories. With momentum on both sides, the championship game promises to bring the intensity and high-level play that has defined the tournament all week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was written by William Murphy, a correspondent and scout for <\/em><\/a>NetScouts Basketball<\/a>.<\/em> You can follow us on <\/em>Instagram<\/a>, or on <\/em>twitter.<\/em> <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are looking for those interested in our <\/em>basketball scout apprenticeship program<\/a>. For information <\/em>contact us <\/em><\/a>and forward your resume.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York, NY – Friday\u2019s semifinals of the Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden featured two teams…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[18,238,19,98,73,155,187],"class_list":["post-1150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","tag-big-east-hoops","tag-big-east-tournament","tag-college-basketball","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-netscouts-basketball","tag-st-johns-red-storm","tag-uconn-huskies"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MSG1-2.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MSG1-2.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Carl Berman","author_link":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/netscoutsbasketball.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}