00:00What's up, everyone? It's Zach Brazile with the New York Post at the Garden.
00:03A raucous, raucous crowd saw St. John's beat the number three team in the nation, Connecticut, 81-72.
00:12Last 446, St. John's closed, outscoring UConn 15-7.
00:17Zubi Ejiofor was the best player on the floor.
00:19He completely dominated the game, 21 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals.
00:25You know, St. John's really won this game on the glass, 16 second chance points, and by forcing 15 turnovers.
00:32It was, you know, if you watch this team in November, December, it was the kind of night you might not have been sure was possible.
00:39UConn's really good. This was their first full-strength loss all year.
00:42They had won 18 in a row, and St. John's was the better team tonight.
00:46St. John's outworked UConn, out-hustled them. Their pressure really wore on the Huskies.
00:51And on a night where St. John's only made five threes, and they had a bunch of good looks, a lot of in-and-out shots, they still won.
00:59I mean, right now, nine in a row, they're now tied atop the Big East in the loss column with UConn, and now have the head-to-head win.
01:07Repeating as Big East champions, all of a sudden, is on the table.
01:11Like, obviously a long way to go. Still eight league games left.
01:15Xavier Monday, they still have to go to UConn. They'll play in Hartford on February 25th.
01:19But right now, you know, if you're a St. John's fan, you've got to be absolutely thrilled when you consider where this team was on January 3rd at 9-5 after that home loss to Providence.
01:30I do want to give a shout-out to the St. John's fans. They did an awesome job.
01:33I think it was probably maybe 80-20, 75-25. It felt and sounded like a real home game.
01:38There was some thought UConn might have 8,000, 9,000 people here tonight. It did not.
01:43This was not Storrs South, as the Husky fans like to call it.
01:47This was St. John's home tonight, and their fans were really good.
01:51They were engaged. They were loud.
01:54I mean, if you're a St. John's fan, this is, you know, kind of one of those nights you're going to remember.
01:59You know, you beat the number three team in the country.
02:01You, you know, get that win that's going to solidify you.
02:05Maybe give you a top four seat if you really take care of business here the rest of the way.
02:10You know, if, look, just enjoy it.
02:13You got Xavier on Monday, but right now, St. John's has to be thrilled with how tonight went, how they played, how they dealt with, you know, UConn runs.
02:23You know, they finished, which is really what they didn't do early.
02:26You know, in those losses to Alabama and Kentucky and Auburn, they had second-half leads.
02:31You know, Iowa State, but they didn't finish.
02:33Tonight they finished, and they've been finishing throughout this 90-game win streak.
02:36So, look, it's one of the biggest regular season games St. John's has played this century, and it absolutely lived up to its billing, and the team more than did its part.
02:45They're now 18-5, they're 11-1 in the league, and really, they're surging.
02:53I will see you guys down the road soon.
02:55Have a good night, and enjoy a monster win.
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