By David Okula (@david16okula)
With exactly a month to go before its first exhibition game against Drexel, St. John’s released its full 2026-27 schedule on Monday morning.
Following a year where the Johnnies secured back-to-back Big East regular season and conference tournament titles, made the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999 and had an offseason full of major additions, the expectations have arguably never been higher for the program. The schedule certainly reflects that, with the Red Storm playing at least four NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago during its non-conference slate and hosting all 10 of its home conference matchups at Madison Square Garden for the first time in program history.
Non-conference schedule:
As mentioned, before the Johnnies officially get their 2026-27 campaign underway, they will play three exhibition games, starting with a matchup against Drexel at Carnesecca Arena on October 14. The next two exhibitions will be at MSG on back-to-back Sundays in late October, as the Red Storm will first host Rutgers on October 18 and Texas on October 25. Although they don’t count toward the team’s official record, it was clear during the overtime battle last year with eventual national champion Michigan that these exhibition games at the Mecca can still have an electric atmosphere and build even more excitement for the season.
As opposed to last year, when they took on Alabama in the first weekend of the season, the Johnnies should be able to ease into the schedule a little more this year, with two games at Carnesecca Arena against Monmouth on November 2 and Colgate on November 11. They will be the Red Storm’s first games against both Monmouth and Colgate since the 2021-22 season, when St. John’s defeated the Hawks and Raiders in the span of four days.
The first marquee matchup of the 2026-27 campaign for St. John’s will be at Madison Square Garden on November 15 against Syracuse, who is looking for a program rejuvenation under new head coach Gerry McNamara. Speaking of McNamara, the Red Storm will welcome his former school, Siena, to Carnesecca Arena on November 18. Although casual fans would not expect it, St. John’s and Siena share a common denominator in that both held late leads against Duke in last year’s NCAA Tournament before ultimately falling in the final minutes.
Following the Siena matchup, the non-conference slate really starts to kick into gear for St. John’s with its second straight appearance in the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas. The Johnnies had a bit of a tumultuous trip to Sin City last year, going 1-2 with a close loss to Iowa State, a dominating win over Baylor and an ugly defeat against Auburn. This season, the tournament has changed to a 16-team bracket style format, and the Red Storm will kick things off by taking on Oregon in the first round on November 24. It will be the Red Storm’s first game against Oregon since the 1976-77 season. Depending on the results of the opening round, St. John’s will either take on Texas Tech or have a storyline-filled matchup against Louisville, where Rick Pitino spent 16 seasons, in round two of the tournament on November 26. The following day, the range of opponents becomes wider, as they could meet any of Tennessee, Maryland, San Diego State, or have a rematch with Iowa State. If the Red Storm were to go 3-0 across those first three contests, it would have an opportunity to cap off the busy week by playing in the Players Era championship game on November 28.
No matter what, the Johnnies are going to have a golden chance to make a statement in Vegas, with three guaranteed games against some of the top teams in the country. After seeing how the losses to Iowa State and Auburn played a key role in the Red Storm not having a higher seed in March Madness last season, these games are going to feel that much more important.
The other two opportunities for high-profile non-conference victories are going to come in early December for St. John’s. First, the Johnnies will welcome Arizona to MSG on December 5 as part of the Hall of Fame Series. The Wildcats were one of the top teams in the country throughout all of last season, and made the Final Four before ultimately losing in dominating fashion to Michigan. Much like St. John’s, despite losing some of its top contributors, Arizona still has very lofty expectations and will likely find itself inside the top 10 in the preseason rankings.
After a midweek matchup against Wagner (December 8) in between, the Red Storm will then travel down to Birmingham on December 12 to complete a home-and-home series with Alabama that began last season. St. John’s and Alabama met in the first weekend of last year, when the Crimson Tide secured a road win at Madison Square Garden in a high-scoring, back-and-forth battle. The Johnnies will be looking to return the favor with a road win of their own this season, which would be their first victory over Alabama since the 1973-74 season. As much success as the Red Storm has had in the Pitino era, there have been consistent struggles against SEC opponents, with a record of 1-5 across the past two seasons.
Finally, the two other games on the St. John’s non-conference slate will come against Iona and Columbia. The Columbia matchup is tentatively scheduled for December 1 at Carnesecca Arena; however, if the Red Storm makes the championship of the Players Era Tournament, then that game will not be played, as St. John’s would exceed the maximum of 32 games. As for Iona, that game is officially on the schedule for the second straight year, but there is no date or venue for the contest as of now.
Conference Schedule:
Big East play has been where St. John’s has dominated during these past two program-changing years, with an 18-2 conference record, regular season championships and conference titles in each of those seasons. However, this season might present a little bit more of a challenge, as the conference is expected to be replenished with talent across the board and much more competitive at the top of the league.
For the second straight season, the Johnnies will begin the conference schedule with a home matchup against DePaul, this time on December 19. The only difference this year is that the game will be hosted at MSG as opposed to Carnesecca, marking the first time that St. John’s has played the Blue Demons at the Mecca since the 2019-20 season. DePaul has not defeated the Red Storm since 2022, as the Johnnies are currently riding a nine-game winning streak in the matchup.
After opening up its conference slate at home, St. John’s will go on a three-game road trip to three venues where it has had some struggles over the years. The trip will begin on December 23 against Seton Hall at the Prudential Center, which was a house of horrors for the Johnnies up until wins in the past two seasons to snap a nine-game losing streak in that building. The road trip will continue to the site of arguably the Johnnies’ most contentious matchup from a season ago, the Amica Mutual Pavilion, home of the Providence Friars. The Red Storm had also struggled mightily in Providence before victories in the past two years, as it had lost six straight matchups on the road against Providence prior to the 2024-25 season. Despite the Friars having a disappointing year, they did hand St. John’s one of its two conference losses last season and the only conference defeat at MSG in the past two seasons. Now, with new head coach Bryan Hodgson, Providence made countless big moves in the transfer portal and could serve as one of the biggest tests on the conference schedule for St. John’s. The three-game road trip will conclude St. John’s first game in 2027, against Butler on January 3. Prior to hiring Pitino, St. John’s had lost eight of its past nine games at Hinkle Fieldhouse. However, the Red Storm has won all seven matchups against the Bulldogs since the Hall of Famer arrived in 2023.
After the road trip, the Red Storm will return to MSG for games on back-to-back Wednesdays against Georgetown on January 6 and Providence on January 13. It will be interesting to see the Friars and Red Storm match up twice in the first six conference games of the year as a litmus test for where both teams stand.
The road-heavy portion of the conference schedule for St. John’s will continue across January, with three of its next four games coming on the road against Creighton (January 16), DePaul (January 19) and Xavier. The only home game across that stretch will be on January 23 against Seton Hall. The first “Pitino Bowl” of the season will be on January 26 at the Cintas Center, as Rick and son Richard will face off for the third time as conference rivals. Despite going 2-0 against Xavier, the Red Storm had some of its toughest conference games of the year against the Musketeers last season, needing a huge second-half comeback on the road and an overtime win at home. With a replenished roster after a rebuilding year last season, Richard Pitino and Xavier have their eyes on being in the top half of the conference standings and will certainly be looking to make a statement in that first matchup against the two-time defending champions.
This busy stretch of three games in the span of six days for the Red Storm will conclude on January 29 with the marquee matchup on the Big East calendar: St. John’s and UConn at Madison Square Garden on a Friday night. St. John’s fans remember the Friday night matchup against the Huskies last year fondly, as the Johnnies defeated then-No. 3 UConn in a back-and-forth battle to hand the Huskies their first conference loss. In the head-to-head portion of this rivalry over the past two years, St. John’s has certainly had the upper hand, going 4-1, including a win in the Big East tournament championship last season. It is obviously impossible to know where either team will be standing heading into the first matchup between the rivals this season, but it’s hard to imagine that this Friday night game won’t have as much buzz as ever.
Following a couple of road games against two teams that have NCAA Tournament expectations this season, Marquette (February 2) and Villanova (February 6), St. John’s will begin a stretch of five home games in its last seven to complete the regular season schedule. This stretch will begin in mid-February with three straight contests at MSG in the span of a week against Creighton (February 10), Xavier (February 13) and Marquette (February 17). The Xavier matchup will be the only one on the weekend, coming the day before the Super Bowl, as the other two will be on back-to-back Wednesdays.
After a February 20 game against Georgetown on the road, who the Johnnies have not lost to since the 2020-21 season, St. John’s will return for its final two home games of the regular season against Villanova (February 23) and Butler (February 27). St. John’s won in convincing fashion against both the Bulldogs and Wildcats at MSG last year, defeating Butler 92-70 and Villanova 89-57. However, Villanova will likely provide a much tougher test this season after an impressive offseason to put itself in the conversation for a preseason top 25 team in the country.
The conference slate will wrap up for St. John’s in a very entertaining fashion, when the Red Storm travels to Connecticut for a March 2 matchup with the Huskies. If last year and the offseason that both of these teams had are any indication, one would think that this game could have very important implications on the Red Storm’s chances at three straight Big East regular season titles. It is worth noting that UConn will still have one more conference game after this on the road against Xavier, but nonetheless, the game could still have plenty of significance. Of course, the Johnnies will be looking to avenge a humiliating loss the last time they were in Connecticut, when they fell by a 72-40 final margin in Hartford.
Final Analysis/Breakdown:
As kind as conference play has been to St. John’s over the past two seasons, we saw firsthand last year how important non-conference results are when it comes to your positioning in March. The Johnnies ran roughshod over the Big East last season and still ended up as a No. 5 seed, having to play top overall seed Duke in the Sweet 16. With another very new roster that will almost certainly take some time to mesh, I like how this schedule shakes out for St. John’s as opposed to last year’s.
Aside from Syracuse, which is still a game that St. John’s should be expected to win fairly comfortably, the Red Storm will be able to ease into its non-conference slate with some non-Power 5 opponents before it really starts to pick up. The Players Era Championship, Arizona and Alabama results will go a long way toward putting the Red Storm in a position to succeed in March, and I think the more games the Johnnies have to come together as a team before then, the better.
It is impossible to expect St. John’s to go 18-2 during conference play for a third straight season, especially when there should be a lot more talent around the conference this year. However, I think the clear expectation for this team is to be competing at the top of the conference once again. Assuming everyone on the current roster gets cleared eligibility-wise, this is a team entering the year with eyes set not only on another conference title, but also on a deep run in March. Between all of the conference games being at MSG and worthy tests across the non-conference slate, this is a schedule that makes those goals very clear.
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