This was a pretty good NCAA Tournament omen.
Fifth-seeded St. John’s hit its most 3-pointers since Jan. 12 at Creighton, sinking 10 from deep in a 79-53 rout of No. 12 Northern Iowa in an East Region opening-round game at Viejas Arena on Friday night.
The Red Storm entered the game shooting only 33.2 percent from 3-point range, which ranked 217th in the country. Against the Panthers’ stifling defense, they were hot early, making seven in the first half.
Northern Iowa entered the contest holding the opposition to 29.3 percent from long range.
Oziyah Sellers hit three and Bryce Hopkins and Joson Sanon each made two. St. John’s also held Northern Iowa to 3-for-14 shooting from distance.
“You know I’m a big proponent of stopping the 3 and making the 3,” coach Rick Pitino said. “If you can have a disparity, and we all know that that’s not something we’ve been great at all year, but when you can come into the tournament and go 30-9, it’s a hell of a night.”
Pitino’s only complaint was Sellers passed up a few 3s. He’s been trying to get his starting shooting guard to take more of them.
“I’d like him to take 10 or 12 a game,” Pitino said. “He got nine up. But he’s open and he passes up open shots. It drives me crazy, because if a coach said that to me, I think I’d take 30.”
St. John’s hasn’t trailed for the past 180-plus minutes of action. The Johnnies have led for all of their past four games. … The 26-point margin equaled St. John’s second-largest NCAA Tournament win. The largest came last March, in a 30-point victory over Omaha. … The Red Storm bench outscored Northern Iowa’s reserves 28-2. Ian Jackson tallied nine and Ruben Prey had eight. … Sellers had 20 family members and friends in attendance. He grew up in Hayward, Calif., a seven-hour drive from San Diego