Well, it’s almost NCAA Tournament time… and what do you know:
Here comes UConn, once again, like a rolling ball of knives that looks every bit capable of winning the whole damn thing. Again.
And, yeah, about that fourth No. 1 seed? The No. 6 Huskies couldn’t have staked a more emphatic claim to it than they did Wednesday night, absolutely obliterating No. 15 St. John’s 72-40 in a game that was decided from practically the opening tip.
With the victory, Dan Hurley’s team is once again tied atop the Big East (with the Johnnies, who won the first meeting between these teams 19 days ago). And while technically the teams have split the regular-season series, this rematch — in which UConn led by double-figures for the final 30 minutes, and grew its margin to as many as 36 points — should leave no doubt about who the conference’s top dog is a week out from the postseason.
So much for that supposed heavyweight bout.
Instead? Wednesday wound up as not only UConn’s biggest win ever over one of its biggest rivals, but the lowest-scoring effort of any Rick Pitino-coached team in his 1,200-plus contests as a college head coach.
Furthermore, it was Pitino’s worst loss in over a decade, since he was still in his Louisville heyday back in 2012.
Rick Pitino full post game after 72-40 loss to UConn in Hartford: “It’s all on me, very disappointed in our performance, offensively especially” pic.twitter.com/tytfBheNYB
— Storrs Central (@StorrsCentral) February 26, 2026
Maybe it should have been obvious early on that we were headed for this kind of lopsided coronation. UConn shot out of a cannon to open the contest, jumping out to an 18-9 lead seemingly before every fan had found their seats inside PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, Conn. Leading the charge was center Tarris Reed Jr., who scored nine of the Huskies’ first 18 points, after only scoring 12 total the first time these teams faced off in Madison Square Garden.
But the game didn’t completely break open until later in the first half, when Hurley’s squad ripped off an 18-0 run to go up 31-11, dealing St. John’s its largest deficit so far this season. By the time Zuby Ejiofor made a free throw with 6:13 left before halftime — the only first-half point the likely conference player of the year scored — the Red Storm were in so deep a hole that there was no obvious way out. Having won 13 straight games entering Wednesday was a nice run, but it didn’t prevent the Johnnies from scoring their fewest first-half points all season, 26.
The onslaught continued in the second half, UConn appearing as if it had six (or even seven) men on the floor the way it so thoroughly out-competed Pitino’s team. If anything, it worsened. As if the 18-0 first-half run wasn’t bad enough, the Red Storm did not score a basket over the final 17-plus minutes of action, missing 24 consecutive field goals and waving the proverbial white flag. For all the talk about UConn’s defense having slipped of late, the Huskies were as bloodthirsty as ever Wednesday, outsourcing St. John’s 42-12 in the paint and 14-0 on fast-break points.
All the things the Johnnies had done well over the last month and a half — winning in the margins by scoring off turnovers and second-chance points — suddenly came undone all at once.
Silas Demary Jr., whose nine turnovers in the first meeting doomed the Huskies, controlled the game with just seven points, eight rebounds, five assists — and, crucially, only one giveaway. Reed wound up subbing out with several minutes to go after out-dueling Ejiofor to the tune of one of his best career stat lines: 20 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks, three assists and two steals. Alex Karaban — the winningest player in program history, making his final start in Hartford — did his typical part, too, with 14 points and five rebounds.
Put together, it was one of the most lopsided results between two ranked teams all season, invoking memories of Michigan’s 40-point demolition of Gonzaga in the Player’s Era championship game back during Feast Week.
Hurley’s team — especially playing in a down Big East — has not been considered in quite the same tier as Michigan throughout this season. That’s especially so with two losses this month, one of them to 14-14 Creighton at home.
But a result like Wednesday? In addition to early-season statements over BYU, Florida, Illinois and Kansas?
Yeah, that more than re-establishes the Huskies as legitimate national championship contenders.