Five months ago, the Big East schedule was released, and immediately there were two dates circled.
Feb. 6 and Feb. 25 — the days when St. John’s and Connecticut would meet.
They were projected to be the league’s two premier teams then, and nothing has changed since.
Together, they have played 22 league games and won 21 of them.
The third-ranked Huskies have won 18 consecutive games.
They have lost just once, to top-ranked Arizona, without starters Tarris Reed Jr. and Braylon Mullins.
St. John’s, No. 22, enters with its own winning streak, eight in a row, that has mostly washed away a disappointing nonconference performance.
UConn is looking to solidify a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and extend its one-game lead over the Johnnies to two.
St. John’s is hoping to land an elite win to boost its résumé.
The Garden will be sold out.
Rick Pitino and Dan Hurley will face off for the sixth time since Pitino came to Queens three years ago.
St. John’s leads the conference in offensive efficiency in Big East action and UConn is No. 1 in defense.
Anticipation is in the frigid air.
“Just from an atmosphere standpoint, if you have a top-20 St. John’s team, a top-20 UConn team playing at MSG in New York City at the Mecca, it’s just different,” Hurley said Thursday. “It’s a different electricity, it’s a different atmosphere, it’s a different level of intensity, tension, and passion.
“Fan bases that I’m sure loathe each other. There’s not another college game, and there are incredible rivalries in college basketball, but I don’t know any of them will be able to produce the [same] electricity, just when you add in the MSG and New York City element. You have two teams that look like contenders for the Big East and teams that have great potential to play well in March.”
This is a measuring stick game for the Red Storm.
Connecticut beat Final Four contenders Illinois, Florida and BYU during nonconference play.
St. John’s (17-5, 10-1) fell short in its premier games early in the season, losing second-half leads to Iowa State, Auburn, Kentucky and Alabama.
They turned their season around over the last month, after Pitino went to a big lineup featuring Dillon Mitchell, Zuby Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins.
“I think we’re a more focused team. I don’t know how much better we are,” Pitino said. “I think we know each other better. We’re more fluid on offense because of knowing each other better. It’s not only me getting to know them and them getting to know me, they’ve gotten to know each other.
“You have to get to know each other. You hope you’re getting better, and we are.”
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These eight consecutive wins didn’t come against a ranked opponent in a down Big East.
The victory at likely tournament team Villanova was impressive, but Connecticut is a different animal.
A team that hasn’t lost at full strength is coming off back-to-back blowouts of Creighton and Xavier by a combined 59 points, and is one of only 12 teams in the country ranked in the top 25 in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
“They don’t really have a weakness,” Pitino said.
UConn (22-1, 12-0), it should be noted, hasn’t faced anyone as good as St. John’s in quite some time either, since beating Florida back in December in the Jimmy V Classic at the Garden.
Hurley compared the Johnnies’ frontcourt to Arizona and Florida, particularly in the way it attacks the glass.
The Huskies have struggled protecting the ball against pressure, and St. John’s defense is 26th in the country in turnover percentage (20.2).
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“We’ve turned the ball over this year way more than we should and at times we have not been that team on the backboards,” Hurley said. “So those are two things that St. John’s exposes. Those are two areas that have been question marks for us and are questions we’re going to have to answer tomorrow night.”
Friday night, the waiting ends.
It’s Connecticut and St. John’s.
It’s Pitino and Hurley.
It’s Madison Square Garden.
“It’s a big game,” Mitchell said. “We’re both fighting over something and playing for something.”
