Fifth-Seeded St. John’s Coasts Past 12th-Seeded Northern Iowa to Open NCAA Tournament, 79-53

Friday, March 20

San Diego, Calif. (Viejas Arena)

7:10 p.m.

St. John's University

29-6,18-2Big East

Northern Iowa

23-13,11-9MVC

UNI

St. John's (NY)

St. John's started the game with a 13-0 scoring run

Fifth-Seeded St. John’s Coasts Past 12th-Seeded Northern Iowa to Open NCAA Tournament, 79-53

3/20/2026 11:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Red Storm men’s basketball team records a wire-to-wire victory fueled by hot start in San Diego

SAN DIEGO - The fifth-seeded St. John's men's basketball team (29-6) stormed out of the gate in its 2026 NCAA Tournament debut against 12^th seed Northern Iowa (23-13) and never looked back to punch its ticket to the Second Round. The Johnnies scored the first 13 points of the contest and hit six of their first nine 3-point attempts to go up 19 just over 12 minutes into the game.

With the victory, the Johnnies have won games in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. St. John's will face the winner of fourth-seeded Kansas and 13^th seed Cal Baptist on Sunday with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line at Viejas Arena. Game time will be released at a later time.

Northern Iowa entered the contest with the nation's top scoring defensive allowing 61.9 points per game and ranked third in NCAA Division in 3-point percentage defense. The Red Storm's 79 points ranked the second-highest against the Panthers and St. John's nailed 10 triples in its opening game of the Big Dance.

Zuby Ejiofor posted a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double and added four blocks on Friday. The big man has racked up a double-double in consecutive NCAA Tournament games, dating back to last season and has tallied eight this season.

Bryce Hopkins delivered a solid effort to open the NCAA Tournament adding 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting and six rebounds. Oziyah Sellers quickly reacclimated to his home state burying three first half 3-pointers and finished with 11 points.

Dillon Mitchell recorded seven points and nine rebounds, while Dylan Darling dished out a game-high five assists.

St. John's started red-hot jumping out to a 10-0 run, marking its fourth straight contest with an 8-0 run or better. Mitchell intercepted a pass and took off to the other end finishing the two-handed slam through contact to complete the 3-point play, as the initial scoring spurt stretched to 13. Later in the opening half, Ejiofor and Sellers splashed 3-pointers as the lead grew to 19, 32-13, forcing Northern Iowa into its third timeout at the under-8 media stoppage.

The Panthers trimmed their deficit to 13 before the Red Storm responded offensively as free throws from Ejiofor and five straight points from Hopkins ballooned the advantage back to 20. The Red Storm went to the locker room with a 47-28 lead, tied for its largest margin in an opening stanza in St. John's NCAA Tournament history. The Johnnies knocked down seven triples in the first 20 minutes.

In the second half, Northern Iowa orchestrated an 8-2 scoring spurt to trail by 13, 49-36, at the under-16 media timeout. The Johnnies answered the bell once again with Ian Jackson flushing a 3-pointer. As the game winded down, UNI got back within 15 before Joson Sanon sealed the deal with back-to-back 3-pointers, nailing the last one with 3:20 to go. Mitchell stamped the exclamation point with an alley-oop slam with 57 seconds remaining to cap off a 14-3 run to end the game.