In the lead-up to Friday night, nobody knew what to expect from the sellout crowd. 

Rick Pitino estimated Thursday there would be 7,000 Connecticut fans and St. John’s would have the slight edge. I figured maybe slightly less. We were both wrong. 

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The building was predominantly red, and it sounded like it. Not only did the No. 22 Johnnies show up in handing No. 3 UConn its first loss at full strength this season, their fans had their back. 

This is a fan base that hasn’t had much to cheer about this century. Pitino’s arrival has begun to change that. A year ago, the Red Storm won their first outright Big East regular-season crown since 1984-85, and they sold out the Garden three times late in the year.