Rick Pitino said on Friday that he was nervous for his St. John’s basketball team to play William & Mary because of the Tribe’s offensive system and 3-point shooting capabilities, and it showed in the first half on Saturday night.
William & Mary (2-2) made five of its opening eight attempts from beyond the arc and only trailed by five at halftime, 39-34, but that was the end of any success the Tribe would have on offense.
It took the No. 13 Johnnies some time to shake off the rust that had been building during its week off but once they got rolling, there was no stopping them.
It’s halftime advantage quickly ballooned to 30 points, 66-36, within the opening six minutes of the second half behind a 27-2 run, resulting in a 93-60 victory.
"We didn't guard the three very well. We weren't very active with our hands," Pitino said. "That second half, we got much more active...We just got to get a little tougher with the scouting reports."
The spurt started with a pair of dunks from Bryce Hopkins and Zuby Ejiofor and picked up steam behind the hustle from Dylan Darling and hot shooting of Oziyah Sellers.
St. John’s (2-1) lead grew to as many as 35 points in the second half.
Darling, in his return from a calf injury that forced him to miss Saturday’s loss to then No. 15 Alabama, made his first start of the season and finished with 13 points, five rebounds, three assists, and four steals.
"Dylan was magnificent tonight at breaking pressure, doing great things and made us a so much better basketball team," Pitino added.
He accounted for nine points, two assists, and two steals in the run.
Sellers struggled getting his shot off in the opening two games of the season but showed no hesitation against the Tribe with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting, something Pitino was hoping to see.
He scored the opening five points of the game, starting the game with a 3-pointer, and hunted his shot throughout his 18 minutes.
The Red Storm will have one more game on Thursday night (7:00 p.m. ET, truTV) against Bucknell before heading to the Players Era Festival for its next major test of the non-conference season.