(Sports Network) -- The St. John's Red Storm will look to build off a monumental upset of Duke its last time out in getting back to Big East play with a date against Rutgers Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.
St. Johns earned a signature victory for the program on Sunday, blowing out the mighty Duke Blue Devils -- ranked third in the nation -- by 15 points in front of a raucous crowd at Madison Square Garden. The rousing 93-78 win stopped a three-game losing skid for the Red Storm in a big way and wrapped up a grueling schedule of eight straight games against ranked opponents. The stretch included wins over Big East stalwarts Georgetown and Notre Dame. St. Johns was quickly on its way to the upset in a lopsided first half, as the Storm buried 57.1 percent of its field goals compared to 29.6 percent for Duke. That led to a 46-25 score at halftime and the Red Storm ran away with things from there, ending at a healthy 58.2-percent shooting clip overall. Dwight Hardy led the charge with 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting and Justin Brownlee hit 7-of-13 shots from the field for 20 points while grabbing nine rebounds. Paris Horne kicked in 15 points and added six assists.
Rutgers nearly pulled off a stunner of its own Saturday, as No. 2 Pittsburgh needed a clutch three-pointer from Ashton Gibbs in the final minute to stave off a feisty Scarlet Knight squad that fell 65-62 at home. Rutgers, trying to knock off a top-five team for the first time in school history, got as close as 63-62 on Robert Lumpkins layup with 20.9 seconds left to follow Gibbs' three-ball. But Brad Wanamaker hit a pair of free throws at the other as Pitt made its last nine attempts from the stripe and Dane Miller missed a three- point try for Rutgers in the final seconds. Lumpkins, Mike Coburn and Jonathan Mitchell all scored 12 points to lead the Scarlet Knights, who dropped their second game in a row on the heels of two straight wins.