St. John's Red Storm center Joel Soriano is defended under...

St. John's Red Storm center Joel Soriano is defended under the basket by Hofstra Pride guard Darlinstone Dubar, guard KiJan Robinson and guard Khalil Farmer in the second half of an NCAA men’s basketball game at UBS Arena on Dec. 30, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke

A new phase in this St. John’s season begins this weekend, a four-week stretch filled with enormous challenges and equally enormous opportunities.

The Red Storm (10-4, 2-1) will embark on a daunting eight-game Big East gantlet starting with Saturday’s 1 p.m. contest against first-place Villanova (10-4, 3-0) at Finneran Pavilion. It’s the first of four road games in this span — along with Creighton, Seton Hall and Xavier — and those four teams are an aggregate 24-6 at home.

The four home games in the next month are all at the Garden against teams that are either nationally ranked or receiving poll votes: No 4 Connecticut, No. 7 Marquette, No. 23 Providence and Villanova.

Asked about the importance of these games, Joel Soriano replied, “It’s very important if we want to make it to the NCAA Tournament . . . We are getting to the tougher [part] of our schedule. We have a lot of tough road games coming up.”

And even though Villanova could be without Justin Moore and Providence just lost Bryce Hopkins to a season-ending injury, the path is intimidating. Nevertheless, St. John’s looks as ready as it ever has.

For more than two weeks, the Red Storm have looked more versatile and are a more complex team to compete against.

St. John’s offensive attack is better. Daniss Jenkins shrugged off early-season turnover issues and had 24 assists and five turnovers in his past four games. Nahiem Alleyne has adapted to coach Rick Pitino’s style and become a difference-maker in multiple roles, averaging 12.3 points and 50% shooting the past four games.

The Red Storm arsenal is deeper. RJ Luis appears past the injuries that cost him 10 of the first 11 games and, despite the rust, looks like a high-impact scorer and defender. And freshman Brady Dunlap had a breakout 13-point performance in Wednesday’s win over Butler.

And the defense that Pitino criticized for weeks? In all three of their Big East games, the Red Storm quieted some of the opponents’ biggest guns. Xavier three-point expert Quincy Olivari was 0-for-2 from outside the arc. UConn’s Tristen Newton managed only 4-for-14 shooting. Butler’s two top scorers, Pierre Brooks and Jahmyl Telfort, had an aggregate 20 points and 5-for-20 shooting.

St. John’s now plays some zone defense and gets more press turnovers.

“We are improving,” Pitino said. “They’re starting to get the scouting much better, which is a good thing.”

Dunlap could prove to be a big deal. Shooting is the blue-chip recruit’s forte, and St. John’s hasn’t shot well. Defenses have a new concern in him. But even more inspiring is the 6-7 swingman’s mindset. He didn’t play in the previous three games but still practiced well enough that Pitino said he had considered giving him the start.

“When I committed here, I knew what it was,” Dunlap said. “There were a lot of older guys and I’m trying to learn .  .  . [and] with Coach Pitino, his pedigree and how he develops players throughout the years. I wasn’t committing to this program expecting lots of minutes. I just wanted to get up and get as good as I can throughout this year. At the same time, I’m always staying ready if he calls my name.”

“I’ve said, from the moment we got him, he is going to develop into a great player,” Pitino said. “I’m not going to tell you he is going to be Chris Mullin, but he is going to be a great scorer at St. John’s.”

Understand that St. John’s is far from a finished product. Pitino’s teams tend to play their best at season’s end. Luis will better learn his teammates. New defensive wrinkles are coming. Pitino wants a bigger role for freshman Simeon Wilcher. And the coach will see which combinations of the players work best in certain situations.

“I don’t have no doubt in my mind that we’re going to be all right in this stretch,” Soriano said. “I think we’re going to do better than [expected].”

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