March Madness: Three takeaways from St. John's vs. Omaha
St. John's guard RJ Luis Jr., right, jokes with teammate Zuby Ejiofor (24) during the second half in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Thursday, March 20, 2025, in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Credit: AP
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – St. John’s won its first NCAA Tournament game in 25 years late Thursday night. The No. 2-seeded Red Storm defeated No. 15 Omaha with an overpowering second half for an 83-53 West Region first-round win at Amica Mutual Pavilion. After halftime, they outscored the Mavericks, 50-25, and were plus-12 on the glass.
St. John’s (31-4) will play No. 10 Arkansas for a spot in the Sweet 16 in San Francisco on Saturday at 2:40 p.m.
Here are three takeaways:
1. The Red Storm shoots three-pointers better than their numbers.
St. John’s went into the NCAA Tournament having made 30% beyond the three-point arc, and Omaha pretty much dared it to shoot them. The Storm answered the challenge by matching a season-high with 14 threes on 38% shooting, led by RJ Luis Jr.’s career-high five threes. Simeon Wilcher had three and Aaron Scott and Deivon Smith two apiece as six different Storm players made at least one.
2. St. John’s bench has become more reliable.
In the first half, Scott was limited to six minutes after picking up two fouls, and Kadary Richmond 10 minutes after getting tagged with a pair. Coach Rick Pitino went to the bench, which not only helped St. John's overcome an early deficit but also helped it pull away late. Ruben Prey had six points in 13 minutes, Vince Iwuchukwu had five points in nine minutes, Lefteris Liotopoulos had three points in five minutes, and Sadiku Ibine Ayo played 15 minutes and, though he didn’t score, had four rebounds and two assists.
3. The Storm enjoys doing things that haven’t been done in decades.
The Storm won its first Big East regular-season title in 40 years and its first Big East Tournament crown in 25 years. Now it has won its first NCAA Tournament game in 25 years and equalled the program record with 31 wins. With a win on Saturday against Arkansas, they would be in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999 and set the program record for victories in a season.
“It means a lot to us,” Zuby Ejiofor said. “We’re breaking records, even though we’re only thinking about winning games. It's what we’ve been doing all year and we’ve still got more to do. We’ve got five more [wins] to go to be national champions.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
