CHICAGO — Six days off didn’t change anything for St. John’s.
It certainly didn’t impact the Johnnies’ focus. Didn’t slow them down. If anything, the near week-long break only made them fresher.
Rick Pitino’s team picked up right where it left off, crushing cellar-dweller DePaul, 104-77, Tuesday night at Wintrust Arena to move over .500 in Big East play for the first time since late January.
The 104 points equaled a program record in Big East play, tying its output against Providence on Feb. 15, 1999.
“We’ve played good basketball all year, with the exception of a couple of games, but never this good,” Pitino said.
After losing eight of 10 games to put its NCAA Tournament chances in peril, St. John’s has won four straight — three by at least 14 points — and will close out the regular season against 10th-place Georgetown on Saturday at the Garden.
A fifth-place finish and first-round bye in the Big East Tournament remain on the table, depending on how Villanova and Providence finish out the season.
St. John’s and Providence are tied for sixth, one game in the loss column behind Villanova, which visits fourth-place Seton Hall on Wednesday.
If the three teams finish tied for fifth, St. John’s wins the tiebreaker.
“Obviously, we feel like we dropped a bunch of games we could’ve won early on,” senior forward Chris Ledlum said. “It’s great to see how far we’ve come, and it’s just really fun and exciting. We’ve learned each other and [from] one another. Our chemistry is building. We’re playing great with each other. What better time than March?”
So much had gone right since the Red Storm manhandled Butler for their second straight Quad 1 victory last Wednesday.
Teams they needed to lose, lost. Teams they needed to win, won.
All of a sudden, they found themselves on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, according to most projections.
But it wouldn’t matter if St. John’s didn’t take care of business against DePaul.
By halftime, there was no need to worry.
The Johnnies closed the half on a 30-6 run, turning a two-point lead into a 26-point bulge with a season-high 54-point first half.
The two Ivy League transfers, Jordan Dingle and Ledlum, led the way with 19 points apiece.
Simeon Wilcher added 12, and Daniss Jenkins, RJ Luis and Nahiem Alleyne had 11 each for St. John’s (18-12, 10-9) — which shot 60.3 percent from the field, made a dozen 3-pointers and piled up 26 assists on 41 made field goals.
“For about 80 percent of the game, we can’t play any better offensively,” Pitino said. “To have 26 assists and six turnovers, seven steals, we’re just playing great basketball right now, and you want to see that. The one thing I can tell you, we were totally focused tonight.”
St. John’s only led by two with 9:05 left in the first half.
DePaul (3-27, 0-19) had started hot, making eight of its first 13 shots.
Chico Carter Jr. hit a trio of long 3-pointers. Behind Dingle and Ledlum, the Red Storm went on a furious 25-4 run.
Ledlum started it with a steal and slam. Dingle followed with a jumper and a 3-pointer, then Ledlum sank another triple. Soon, the game was out of hand.
“Jordan and ‘Led’ are probably the two most improved players on our basketball team,” Pitino said.
It got flat-out silly in the second half. After Wilcher hit three straight 3-pointers, St. John’s was up by 41 points — yes, 41 — and there was still 11:10 left to play.
It was an old-fashioned laugher that showed just how far this team has come.
Less than two weeks ago, the tournament felt like a long shot. Now, the Johnnies appear to be getting better by the game.
With a win over Georgetown, St. John’s would have its most league wins (11) since it won 12 in 2010-11. Pitino is looking forward to it, and hopes the Red Storm faithful are as well.
“We’ll find out a little bit about our fans on Saturday, because we need a great crowd,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “We’ve got to win that game. We’ll see how the Johnnies turn out on Saturday.”
