St. John's Follows Duke Upset with Stunning Win vs. No. 1 Villanova

Against all odds, St. John's is building a reputation as a giant-slayer.

Four days after the Red Storm (12-13) topped then-No. 4 Duke, the Big East also-rans pulled a stunner and knocked off the No. 1 Villanova Wildcats, 79-75, at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

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We're in Upset City and St. John's is the mayor. @StJohnsBBall has taken down No. 1 Villanova! pic.twitter.com/0yMhnnrJm7

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) February 8, 2018"

The back-to-back upsets followed an 11-game losing streak that spanned more than a month, from Dec. 28 through Jan. 30. Wednesday's win was also the Red Storm's first in conference play, as the entirety of their losing streak came against Big East opponents.

ESPN Stats & Info provided additional (and staggering) context behind the triumphant effort:

The Wildcats (22-2), meanwhile, suffered their second loss of the season and the first since the Butler Bulldogs downed them on Dec. 30.

Villanova—which entered the evening ranked No. 1 overall in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com—was in an uncharacteristic funk with center Eric Paschall (concussion) and guard Phil Booth (broken hand) both sidelined.

Althugh Jalen Brunson was his usual, productive self and dropped 28 points—including 12 in a row down the stretch—the Wildcats made two three-point attempts in the second half and shot 8-of-33 overall from beyond the arc.

Fox Sports' Rob Stone noted the confluence of several factors made the Wildcats ripe for an upset:

While Brunson had to do most of the heavy lifting for Villanova, the Red Storm leaned on a three-pronged attack consisting of Shamorie Ponds, Justin Simon and Marvin Clark II to shock the nation's top-ranked team.

Ponds led the charge with 26 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Simon flirted with a triple-double before finishing with 16 points, 10 boards and seven dimes. Clark added 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting and six boards in an efficient showing.

"We've had difficulty defending all year, and [St. John's is] as good as it gets in terms of isolating one-on-one," Villanova head coach Jay Wright said afterward, according to ESPN.com's Jeff Borzello. "We weren't able to guard them."

The Red Storm remain a long shot for an at-large bid to the Big Dance, but they have six remaining regular-season games to build on recent developments and gain more steam as they prepare to make a deep run in next month's Big East tournament.

Villanova, on the other hand, won't be pleased with the latest blemish on its resume. But considering their overall body of work, the Wildcats should still factor firmly into the No. 1 seed conversation as March Madness draws closer.