University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
St. John's
UConn Battles St. John's In Blockbuster BIG EAST Title Game
3/14/2026 10:40:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NEW YORK – The two-seed UConn men's basketball team (29-4) will play on Championship Saturday at the BIG EAST Tournament, taking on one-seed St. John's (27-6) in the conference tournament title game at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off for UConn's 12th BIG EAST title game appearance is set for 6:30 p.m. and will air on FOX with Gus Johnson, Jim Jackson and Allison Williams on the call.
A championship matchup that has felt inevitable to this point, UConn and St. John's square off as the league's top two seeds, its last two tournament champions and the two squads that have sat atop the league standings all season. It marks the third time the Huskies and Red Storm will square off in the title game of college basketball's premiere conference tournament, also meeting in 1999 and 2000.
The two squads combined for only five league losses in the 2025-26 conference season and split a pair of meetings. The Red Storm took the first matchup on Feb. 6 at MSG, an 81-72 triumph, before the Huskies mollywhopped the Red Storm in a 72-40 rout on Feb. 25 in Hartford. UConn is 35-40 all-time against St. John's and 3-4 vs. SJU in the BIG EAST Tournament. The sides split their two prior championship meetings, a win for Connecticut in 1999 and St. John's in 2000.
Connecticut is 8-3 all-time in the BIG EAST Tournament title game, with the eight tournament crowns tied with Georgetown for the most in conference history. The Huskies marched to Saturday night with a win over 10-seed Xavier in the quarterfinals and over upstart 11-seed Georgetown in the semifinals last night. UConn has got incredibly balanced scoring during its 2026 run at the World's Most Famous Arena, with seven players averaging between 8.5 and 15.0 points over the first 80 minutes at MSG.
Braylon Mullins led the Huskies with 21 points against Georgetown on Friday night, becoming the sixth UConn freshman with 20 or more in a BIG EAST Tournament game and the first to post at least 20 points and five rebounds. Solo Ball was UConn's top scorer on Thursday vs. Xavier with 19 points and is averaging 13.0 in the tournament, while Tarris Reed Jr. is averaging a double-double with 11.5 points and 10.5 rebounds on 61.1 percent shooting in the two wins.
Ball leads the Huskies in scoring this season with 13.8 points per game and knocks down 2.1 threes per contest. He is followed closely atop the scoresheet by Reed Jr. with 13.6 points per game along with team-highs of 8.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per contest. Alex Karaban stuffs the stat sheet with 12.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.7 'blocks' per game. Mullins (12.2 ppg) and Demary Jr. (11.0 ppg) round out all five starters averaging double-figures, with Demary Jr. dishing out a league-leading 6.3 assists per game and swiping a team-high 1.6 steals per contest.
The Red Storm advanced to the title game on Saturday with a quarterfinal win over nine-seed Providence and a semifinal victory last night against four-seed Seton Hall. BIG EAST Player and Defensive Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor leads SJU across the board with 16.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.1 steals per game. Bryce Hopkins adds 13.3 points and 6.2 rebounds while Oziyah Sellers is the third Johnnie in double-figures with 10.6 points per game.
Following Saturday night at The Garden, UConn will await its NCAA Tournament fate on Selection Sunday tomorrow evening.
