A Busy December Ahead for the Red Storm
St. John’s University will open its December slate by hosting the University of Arizona at the iconic Madison Square Garden on December 4, a matchup that pits the Red Storm against a program that reached the Final Four just a year ago.
The meeting marks the first time the two schools have faced off since the 2019‑20 season, when St. John’s edged Arizona 70‑67 in San Francisco, and it revives a rivalry that has simmered through the early 2010s.
A separate thread of excitement surrounds a potential renewal of the historic St. John’s‑Syracuse rivalry. The two programs last met in the 2022 Empire Classic championship in Brooklyn, with the Red Storm securing the title, and their most recent encounter at Madison Square Garden dates back to the 2015‑16 season.
In late November, St. John’s will travel to the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, joining a field of sixteen teams that includes Alabama, Baylor and Gonzaga. The tournament, which showcases some of the nation’s most celebrated programs, saw the Red Storm finish 1‑2 in the previous edition.
The schedule will close out with a trip to Birmingham on December 12 to meet Alabama, a team that gave St. John’s a heart‑stopping victory in New York City the previous November. That game, decided in the final seconds, underscored the competitive edge of the non‑conference slate.
Beyond the individual contests, the broader picture is one of a conference realignment that places the Red Storm in a more demanding Big East environment. The non‑conference schedule, therefore, serves both as a testing ground and a statement of intent as the program looks to cement its place among the nation’s elite.