Postgame Notes
No. 5 St. John’s 65, No. 13 Rutgers 63
Records: St. John’s (21-10); Rutgers (15-17)
St. John’s advances to face No. 4-seeded Syracuse Thursday in the quarterfinal round of the BIG EAST Championship. The Red Storm fell 76-59 to the Orange Jan. 8 in the teams’ regular-season meeting. That loss was the only St. John’s setback at Madison Square Garden this season.
St. John’s improved to 8-1 at Madison Square Garden this season.
St. John’s improved to 1-2 all-time in BIG EAST Championship second-round games. The Red Storm had lost in the second round in 2009 and 2010 before winning this year.
St. John’s will make its 20th appearance in the BIG EAST Championship quarterfinals and its first quarterfinal appearance since 2003. The Red Storm are 11-8 all-time in the quarterfinal round.
St. John’s has won 10 of its last 12 games.
St. John’s is unbeaten (6-0) in in-season and postseason tournament games this season.
St. John’s improved to 25-24 all-time in BIG EAST Championship games.
Rutgers fell to 6-12 in BIG EAST Championship games.
Rutgers shot 86.7 percent from the free throw line (13-of-15), a team record for a BIG EAST Championship game.