Rick Pitino leads the Red Storm into Capital One Arena as a heavy underdog against a top-seeded Blue Devils team that Charles Barkley believes is ripe for an upset
March Madness’s most compelling Sweet 16 matchup of the evening tips off tonight when the fifth-seeded St. John’s Red Storm take on the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils in the East Region semifinals. The game tips off at 7:10 p.m. ET at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., and airs live on CBS. Fans can also stream the game through Sling, which offers a free trial for new subscribers.
For St. John’s fans, this is a moment decades in the making. The Red Storm are appearing in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999, a return to the national stage that head coach Rick Pitino has engineered with a 30-6 squad playing with remarkable confidence and nothing to lose.
How both teams got here
St. John’s punched its ticket to Washington with two gritty performances last weekend in San Diego. The Red Storm handled 12-seeded Northern Iowa comfortably in the opening round before delivering one of the most memorable moments of the tournament so far, a buzzer-beating victory over fourth-seeded Kansas on a last-second shot from Dylan Darling that sent the college basketball world into a frenzy.
Duke’s path was less dramatic but still required a second-half rally. The Blue Devils needed to overcome a scare against 16th-seeded Siena in the first round, mounting a comeback to win 71-65 before looking more like themselves in a dominant 81-58 takedown of TCU in the second round. Head coach Jon Scheyer’s squad enters today’s game at 34-2, marking their 31st Sweet 16 appearance, a number that speaks to the program’s sustained excellence over decades.
No boot for Caleb Foster. Jon Scheyer said that the starting guard will try to play on Friday against St. John’s. pic.twitter.com/tAnCPD9n12
— Logan Campbell (@loganncampbelll) March 26, 2026
What the odds and the analysts say
Duke enters as a heavy favorite. Oddsmakers have installed the Blue Devils at minus-285 on the moneyline, with a spread of 6.5 points and a total of 140.5. On paper, the matchup favors the more experienced and deeper Blue Devils roster.
But not everyone is lining up behind Duke. Charles Barkley, one of the most outspoken voices in sports broadcasting, used his halftime platform Thursday to declare his support for St. John’s, citing Duke’s unimpressive first two games as reason to believe the Red Storm can pull off the upset. Barkley described it as a matchup he was genuinely excited to watch and made clear he believes Pitino’s team has what it takes to send the top seed home early.
Full tonight Sweet 16 schedule
For fans settling in for a full evening of basketball, tonight’s slate delivers four games across two regions. All times are listed in Central:
- East Region: Duke vs. St. John’s, 6:10 p.m., CBS
- Midwest Region: Michigan vs. Alabama, 6:35 p.m., TBS/truTV
- East Region: UConn vs. Michigan State, 8:45 p.m., CBS
- Midwest Region: Iowa State vs. Tennessee, 9:10 p.m., TBS/truTV
Why this game matters beyond the bracket
There is a layer to this matchup that stretches beyond just a seeding upset or a bracket buster. Rick Pitino, at 73, has rebuilt St. John’s into a program capable of competing on the biggest stage, and the Red Storm’s run has captured the imagination of college basketball fans who love nothing more than a team that was not supposed to be here refusing to go home.
Duke, for its part, will be looking to prove that its early tournament struggles were simply a matter of finding its rhythm rather than a warning sign of something deeper. A convincing performance against St. John’s would go a long way toward silencing those concerns.
Tipoff is set for 7:10 p.m. ET on CBS.