Rick Pitino to St. John’s star Zuby Ejiofor: ‘You’re going to make me retire’

A ranked matchup between two bitter Big East rivals lived up to the hype. No. 22 St. John’s pulled off an upset win over No. 3 UConn at Madison Square Garden Friday night, and Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino was all smiles after the game with his star big man, Zuby Ejiofor. “You know you’re going to make me retire? Because I can’t live without you,” Pitino joked to Ejiofor during his postgame press conference after the Red Storm’s 81-72 victory over the Huskies. Ejiofor finished Friday night’s win with 21 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and two steals. He went 6 of 10 from the field, while knocking down a 3-point shot and going 8 of 10 from the charity stripe. Elsewhere for St. John’s, Dillon Mitchell had 15 points and six rebounds, while Bryce Hopkins had 14 points and six rebounds. When Ejiofor and Mitchell left the podium during the postgame press conference, Pitino told them with a smile that they had a “5 a.m.” curfew. The ranked win over the Huskies moved the Red Storm to 18-5 overall and 11-1 in Big East play this season. Additionally, the win tied Pitino with Roy Williams for third in wins by a head coach in men’s college basketball history with 903. On the season, Ejiofor, who is in his third season at St. John’s after spending his freshman campaign at Kansas, is averaging 15.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, two blocks and 1.2 steals per game. Last season, Ejiofor earned All-Big East honors in a campaign that saw St. John’s win the Big East and earn a runner-up seed in the NCAA tournament. Next up for St. John’s is a home game against Xavier on Monday, February 9 (6:30 p.m. ET on FS1 and the FOX Sports app).