St. John's did it again. 

After knocking off then-No. 4 Duke on Saturday, the Red Storm upset top-ranked Villanova on Wednesday. 

The Red Storm finally picked up their first victory in Big East play after starting 0-11 with a 79-75 road win at The Pavilion.

St. John's took advantage of a short-handed Villanova team playing without forward Eric Paschall. The 6-9 junior had to sit out Wednesday's game because of a concussion. 

St. John's (12-13, 1-11 Big East) held a 64-53 lead with 5:37 remaining and held on after Villanova (22-2, 9-2) cut the lead to 67-66 with 1:26 on the clock. Junior guard Jalen Brunson, who finished with a game-high 28 points, nearly led the comeback single-handedly by scoring 12 straight points for the Wildcats over the final five minutes.

But St. John's sophomore Shamorie Ponds, who scored 33 points in Saturday's 81-77 win over Duke, led the Red Storm with 26 points Wednesday at Villanova. 

A pair of free throws by Justin Simon, who finished with 16 points, helped St. John's build a 73-68 lead with 46 seconds remaining. The top-ranked Wildcats wouldn't go away and it was again a one-point game after freshman guard Collin Gillespie drained a 3-pointer with 25 ticks left. 

Ponds was only able to make one of two free throws on the ensuing possession, giving Villanova on last chance. Instead of driving to tie the game, freshman Omari Spellman put up a 3-pointer and missed. Spellman finished with 11 points and was just 1 of 6 from behind the arc. 

Marvin Clark II, who had 15 points, knocked down a pair of free throws at the other end and St. John's had its first victory over a No. 1 team since 1985. 

St. John's coach Chris Mullin credited his team's perseverance as a reason St. John's was able to knock off a pair of top-5 teams in less than a week. 

The consecutive wins are two of the biggest upsets of the college basketball season. If St. John's continues to stay hot with six games remaining in the regular season, the Red Storm could make some noise in the Big East tournament. If St. John's were to reach the Big East title game, that might be enough to get the Red Storm into the NCAA Tournament with the two impressive resume-building victories.