INDIANAPOLIS — Lateral quickness, Rick Pitino joked, was not a problem Wednesday night.

His two players, Glenn Taylor Jr. and Chris Ledlum, laughed along with him.

Suddenly, St. John’s is peaking at the right time, and Pitino can make light of the critical comments he made of his players 10 days ago that created national headlines.

“I know you guys won’t believe it, but what I said was all staged to try to get them to wake the hell up, and they woke up in a big way,” Pitino said. “They are right now playing great basketball.”

The Johnnies haven’t lost since the comments, following St. John’s blowing a 19-point lead to Seton Hall.

Three days after they upset No. 13 Creighton at the Garden, the Red Storm obliterated Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse, 82-59, winning in the historic building for just the third time in 11 tries.

With two double-figure Quad 1 wins in as many games, St. John’s is playing its way back into the NCAA Tournament at-large picture.

Pitino’s team seems to have solved its second-half issues.

It was dominant on Wednesday, turning a close game into a rout.

Perhaps most impressively, star point guard Daniss Jenkins had an off-night shooting and it didn’t matter.

St. John’s was balanced and efficient, notching 17 assists and shooting 44 percent from the field.

Seven different players scored at least seven points led by Taylor’s 17 and RJ Luis’ 15.

Jenkins added eight points and nine assists and Joel Soriano tallied seven points and 13 rebounds.

“We’re starting to get it together,” said Chris Ledlum, who had 10 points, four rebounds and two steals.

Taylor has been a revelation the last two games, his role expanding significantly. In the Creighton win, he had 10 rebounds and six assists.

On Wednesday, he hit five 3-pointers along with three assists and three steals.

Across 62 minutes in those contests, St. John’s has outscored the opposition by 46 points when the Oregon State transfer was on the floor.

“He’s so team-oriented, that he never really thinks about himself. He’s gotten it drilled in his mind to be a better offensive basketball player,” Pitino said. “What I told him is we work so hard on player development, we take thousands of shots. ‘C’mon man, shoot the ball,’ and he did. Right from the first play of the game.”

The other end of the floor, however, is where St. John’s (17-12, 9-9) has seen the biggest turnaround of late. It shut down Creighton’s explosive offense and held Butler to 26 second-half points while forcing 15 turnovers that led to 23 points.

St. John’s was dominant in second-chance points (17-4) and bench scoring (31-12), and cruised much of the second half.

“Every time we made a mistake, they made us pay for it,” Butler coach Thad Matta said.

The building began emptying with six minutes left and the lead up to 22.

As the final seconds ticked away, Pitino acknowledged the St. John’s fan rooting section behind the bench, clapping his hands.

Despite leading by as many as 12 in the first half, St. John’s only took a six-point lead into the break, reminiscent of several losses.

But it shook off the shaky close to the first half by pushing the lead back into double figures when Luis went coast-to-coast for a layup after a Jordan Dingle 3-pointer.

The Dingle 3 started a 16-6 run he capped with back-to-back layups, pushing the lead to 16 with 13:08 to go. The game was never in doubt from there.

“Obviously when you go on the road in a hostile environment and the other team shoots 39 percent, 33 percent from 3, you got to be quick laterally,” Pitino said with a laugh.

Now, that criticism feels like a turning point in St. John’s season. It sure seems to have had its intended effect.

“I say it all the time, I know his statements were out of love,” Ledlum said. “He loves us, he cares for us and he just wants us to reach our full potential. When he says those types of things, we take it as tough love.”