St. John’s releases 2024-25 men’s basketball non-conference schedule

On Wednesday, St. John’s men’s basketball officially released their non-conference schedule for the 2024-25 season. All matchups were previously reported, so there were no surprise announcements. The 11-game slate is listed below, with tip-off times and television broadcasts to be announced at a later date:

• Monday, November 4: Home vs. Fordham at Carnesecca Arena (Jamaica, NY)
• Saturday, November 9: Home vs. Quinnipiac at Carnesecca Arena (Jamaica, NY)
• Wednesday, November 13: Home vs. Wagner at Carnesecca Arena (Jamaica, NY)
• Sunday, November 17: Home vs. New Mexico at Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)
• Thursday, November 21: Neutral vs. Baylor/Tennessee/Virginia at Baha Mar Convention Center (Nassau, Bahamas)
• Friday, November 22: Neutral vs. Baylor/Tennessee/Virginia at Baha Mar Convention Center (Nassau, Bahamas)
• Sunday, November 24: Neutral vs. Georgia at Imperial Arena (Paradise Island, Bahamas)
• Saturday, November 30: Home vs. Harvard at Carnesecca Arena (Jamaica, NY)
• Saturday, December 7: Home vs. Kansas State (Site to be announced)
• Wednesday, December 11: Home vs. Bryant at Carnesecca Arena (Jamaica, NY)
• Saturday, December 28: Home vs. Delaware at Carnesecca Arena (Jamaica, NY)

The strength of schedule has noticeably improved compared to last season. The heavyweight Baha Mar Hoops Classic features Torvik preseason top-25 projected teams Baylor and Tennessee, and top-50 projected Virginia. Other opponents rated in the top 100 of Torvik’s preseason projections are Kansas State (36) and Georgia (75).

Rick Pitino previously expressed on record that Carnesecca Arena gives St. John’s their best home-court advantage — saying he wanted to face UConn on campus. The Red Storm will play even more games this season at their intimate on-campus arena. The 5,602-seat arena will host at least six non-conference games in this non-conference slate, doubling last year’s total.

St. John’s is also not scheduling non-conference games at UBS Arena or Barclays Center this year. No reasoning has officially been given, but attendance and atmosphere was noticeably lacking for St. John’s games at these venues last season. After a 85-57 win over DePaul at UBS Arena last season, Rick Pitino joked on the FS1 broadcast that there were “180 people” at the game.

The only scheduled non-conference game at Madison Square Garden will be the father-son coaching matchup between Rick Pitino’s Red Storm and Richard Pitino’s New Mexico Lobos. Last season, St. John’s faced two non-conference opponents at the World’s Most Famous Arena: Michigan and Fordham.

Interestingly, the home site for the Kansas State game has yet to be announced, even though no events are currently booked at Madison Square Garden.