St. John’s has won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 2000, cruising past No. 15 Omaha 83-53 on Thursday night in the Round of 64.
Overturning a slow start, the Red Storm outscored Omaha 50-25 in the second half, which only continued their now-common late-game surges.
MVP chants broke out in Providence, RI, as RJ Luis Jr. flipped a switch in the second half, pouring in 13 of his 22 total points in the frame. The Big East Player of the Year turned it on in the second half of the Big East title game, as well, scoring 27 of his 29 points in the final 20 minutes – continuing his second half dominance in March.
Luis also went 5-for-8 from three-point land, which is the most threes he’s ever made in a game, even dating back to his time as a freshman at UMass in the 2022-2023 season.
The Red Storm were in familiar territory, as they went down 7-0 in the first three minutes of the game. As per usual, they got out to a sluggish start and got into foul trouble early. That didn’t stop Johnnies head coach Rick Pitino from making adjustments and taking a 33-28 lead into halftime.
There were two big surprises after the first half; Omaha outrebounded St. John’s 26-16 and only committed four turnovers. St. John’s came into the contest tied for No. 5 in the country in turnovers forced per game, at 15.6. Pitino and Co. made adjustments, as the Johnnies outrebounded the Mavericks 28-17.
Omaha shot 36.7% from behind the arc this season, which was top-50 in the nation. The Mavericks shot just 13.9% on five-of-36 shooting, against St. John’s suffocating defense. The Johnnies shot a shocking 37.8% from behind the arc, on 14-of-37 shooting, as well as knocking down 78.6% of their free throws.
If the Red Storm continue to shoot lights out from all over the court, they not only have a shot to make a deep run, but they can potentially dance all the way to the finish line, cut the nets and bathe in confetti.
St. John’s, who has been without a completely healthy version of Deivon Smith, showed signs of his old ways in the blowout victory. Smith scored eight points off the bench and created scoring opportunities with his ball handling and passing abilities. He’s been nursing a shoulder injury since Jan. 11 against Villanova.
It’ll be Pitino against John Calipari, as No. 2 St. John’s takes on No. 10 Arkansas in the Round of 32. The two legendary head coaches face off against one another on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2:40 p.m. ET.
