St. John’s fends off DePaul ahead of huge showdown against UConn

CHICAGO –— Consider the trap avoided. 

It wasn’t pretty. It was far from memorable.

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But St. John’s shook off a slow start to extend its winning streak to eight games entering Friday’s showdown against third-ranked Connecticut at the Garden.

The Johnnies ratcheted up the intensity after halftime and won their 10th league game in 11 tries, 68-56 over DePaul, at Wintrust Arena Tuesday night. 

Up next is the game of the year in the Big East, the two best teams meeting for the first time this season.

UConn has won 18 straight games and is coming off consecutive blowout wins over Creighton and Xavier.

The Huskies lead St. John’s by a single game atop the conference standings. 

Fueled by a 16-2 run midway through the second half and a few big baskets late, 22nd-ranked St. John’s survived an off shooting night.

Bryce Hopkins had the game’s biggest hoop, a driving left-handed layup to push the lead to eight with 3:08 left, after DePaul had reeled off six straight points. 

Zuby Ejiofor scored a team-high 16 points along with nine rebounds and four assists.

Hopkins, a Chicago native, had 15 points and five rebounds and Oziyah Sellers scored all 13 of his points after halftime. 

The Red Storm locked down DePaul star CJ Gunn, limiting him to nine points on 4-of-13 shooting, and forced 15 turnovers that led to 20 points.

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They needed that defense on a night when they shot only 35 percent from the field and missed 14-of-20 attempts from beyond the 3-point line. 

The evening started with Dillon Mitchell blowing a reverse layup. It was that kind of first half.

St. John’s missed 12 of its first 14 shots and 20 of 27. The Johnnies were fortunate to be ahead by one at the half. They were outworked most of the first 20 minutes, outscored by four in the paint.

Hopkins was the best Johnnie in the first half, scoring 10 points along with four rebounds. Hopkins’ layup in the final minute sent St. John’s into the break up one.

But there was a lot Pitino couldn’t have liked.

The offense was stagnant and the defense was a step slow. DePaul missed tons of open looks from deep — it was 3-of-11 from distance in the opening stanza — or it would’ve held a decent-sized margin. 

Mitchell was a non-factor in that first half, missing all of his field goal attempts and sitting the final 8:34 due to foul trouble.

Ejiofor was impactless, his only made field goal a 3-pointer. 

St. John’s started the second half far better than the first.

Sellers hit a transition 3-pointer on the first offensive possession for the Red Storm and Mitchell scored on a backdoor cut.

The lead ballooned to eight on the strength of a 9-0 run at the under-12 media timeout, and it grew to 11 after an Ian Jackson 3-pointer.