NEW YORK — Whether St. John’s is having a disappointing season or not, the comfort of home at Madison Square Garden for the Big East tournament can be a welcome elixir come March — at least for one game.
The eighth-seeded Johnnies entered the tournament with essentially no shot at earning an NCAA bid for a fourth straight year under Mike Anderson’s leadership unless it ran the table at its second home.
The Red Storm embraced that chance for much of Wednesday’s tournament opener, dominating No. 9 seed Butler, 76-63, and cooling down the hot seat beneath Anderson, at least for a few hours.
The win sets up a rematch with top-seeded Marquette, who the Johnnies (18-14) nearly knocked off in the regular-season finale the previous Saturday. The quarterfinal tips off Thursday at noon as the Johnnies try to reach the Big East semifinals for the first time since 2000, the last time they won the championship.
Joel Soriano owned the paint, scoring 19 points, grabbing 15 rebounds, and blocking two shots. AJ Storr added 15 points, Posh Alexander scored 13 points, and Dylan Addae-Wusu had 10 points and 10 rebounds, and four assists with Alexander and Addae-Wusu pushing the tempo on the Bulldogs (14-18) at every opportunity.
This is the kind of basketball Johnnies fans have a right to expect from this group.
“Our guys I thought came out with good energy and made some shots early, established inside, did a good job getting to the glass,” said Anderson, whose team outrebounded Butler, 53-28. “I thought that was going to be a good stat in this particular game.”
If there was momentum to be had from the second-half rally in the 96-94 regular-season loss at Marquette, the Johnnies grabbed it tight, especially on the glass. It wasn’t just Soriano. St. John’s had more offensive rebounds than Butler had in total for most of the game.
That stat, among other issues, had to concern Butler coach Thad Matta, who returned to Hinkle Fieldhouse after successful runs at Xavier and Ohio State to help turn around a program that had fallen on a few rough seasons in the Big East.
“When we started we were not connected. We were not together,” Matta said. “The transition. The rebounds. The difference in the game was the rebounding, obviously.”
When Alexander hit his first 3-pointer 3:04 into the game, St. John’s took a 9-7 lead and never trailed again. That started a 20-9 Red Storm run. After Butler pulled within five at 26-21 with 6:56 left in the first, Soriano led the Johnnies on an 18-8 run to end the half and a commanding 44-29 lead.
