St. John’s found itself on early upset alert.
Playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019, the second-seeded Johnnies missed their first five shots in Thursday night’s first-round meeting with No. 15 Omaha and quickly fell behind, 7-0.
The Mavericks would go on to lead for most of the game’s first 14 minutes.
It was an inauspicious start for Rick Pitino’s Red Storm, who entered Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, R.I., as 18.5-point favorites but largely lacked NCAA Tournament experience.
But St. John’s, as it has all season, pulled away in the second half to earn a 83-53 victory, setting up a marquee second-round matchup with John Calipari’s No. 10 Arkansas on Saturday.
It was the Johnnies’ (31-4) first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2000.
Omaha (22-13), the Summit League champion making its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, got off to its fast start by controlling the tempo early.
The Mavericks challenged St. John’s to beat them from behind the arc, trying to exploit a Red Storm team that ranked 343rd in the nation in 3-point shooting at 30.4%.
St. John’s started 2-of-9 on 3-point attempts, repeatedly settling for shots early in possessions. It trailed, 20-14, more than 11 minutes into the game.
But then the Johnnies got going.
Deivon Smith’s 3-pointer at the 6:22 mark of the first half put St. John’s up 22-20 for its first lead of the game. Rubey Prey added a 3-pointer on the next possession, putting the Red Storm up for good.
Those makes came in the heart of a 16-2 run by the Red Storm, during which they went 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
Still, St. John’s led only 33-28 at the half. That was largely the result of hard-hustling Omaha outrebounding St. John’s by 10 before the break.
But there was no Cinderella story to be had.
St. John’s remained hot from beyond the arc in the second half, with Luis drilling a 3-pointer on the opening possession and Aaron Scott adding two more within the first four minutes.
That set the tone for a dominant second half in which St. John’s outscored Omaha, 50-25.
Making his NCAA Tournament debut, Luis led St. John’s with 22 points and exited to “MVP” chants. The Big East Player of the Year shot 8-of-14 from the field, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range.
With their first win at the Big Dance in a quarter-century, the Johnnies snapped yet another drought. They previously won their first outright Big East regular-season championship since 1985 and their first Big East Tournament crown since 2000.
The latest feat came about 175 miles from their campus in Queens, allowing St. John’s fans to pack the arena. The city of Providence continues to be good to Pitino, who famously led Providence College to the Final Four in 1987 toward the beginning of his storied career.
Pitino had warned his team about looking past a lesser opponent.
As he prepared this week, Pitino showed his players the biggest NCAA Tournament upset he’s suffered in his five decades of coaching. That loss came in 2011, when No. 13 Morehead State stunned Pitino’s No. 4 Louisville team, 62-61, in the Round of 64.
With Thursday’s win behind them, the Red Storm turn their focus to an Arkansas team (21-13) that outlasted Bill Self and No. 7 Kansas, 79-72, in the game that preceded theirs in Providence.
Saturday’s meeting between St. John’s and Arkansas (21-13) is set to renew a decades-long rivalry between Pitino and Calipari.
The Hall of Fame coaches’ history began some 33 years ago, when Pitino, then at Kentucky, beat Calipari, then at UMass, in the Sweet 16 in 1992.
That game was just the start of an epic back-and-forth that’s seen the coaches meet in two Final Fours — and win one apiece; go head-to-head in the NBA and Conference USA; and later share a state when Pitino led Louisville and Calipari helmed Kentucky.
Saturday’s game is the first since 2016 between Pitino and Calipari, the latter of whom leads the all-time series, 13-10.
