This was how St. John’s used to look in big games — pre-Rick Pitino. 

Shell-shocked. Unsure of itself. Lacking focus and poise. 

Without the Hall of Fame coach, who wasn’t on the sideline due to a bout of COVID-19, his team didn’t show up Tuesday night. 

It took the Johnnies nearly five minutes to score their first points, and the night never really improved.

Seton Hall was by far the better team, riding a head-spinning 28-0 run bridging the end of the first half and start of the second half to an 80-65 beatdown at Prudential Center, sending St. John’s to its second straight road loss.

It fell to 1-12 in the Newark arena all-time, a house of horrors for the Johnnies. 

“It was terrible from each and every one of us,” Daniss Jenkins said, when asked about the effort. “It’s unacceptable, especially coming off a tough road loss. We were supposed to come out and correct those little things to make us not lose on the road again and instead we did the opposite.” 

In one of its worst performances of the season, St. John’s trailed by 14 at the break and never got back into the game.

It was tentative, out-hustled and out-toughed by the gritty, more physical Pirates.

Steve Masiello, filling in for Pitino, didn’t have any answers. Nobody in red did. 

Joel Soriano was outplayed by Seton Hall backup center Elijah Hutchins-Everett and sat for the final 14:43 of the second half. Jenkins was St. John’s only starter to reach double figures, with 17 points on 6 of 14 shooting.

Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s best player on this night, added 13 points and five blocks off the bench. 

Former Johnnies guard Dylan Addae-Wusu hurt his old team, producing 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

But this wasn’t about any one player.

This was a complete obliteration.

Seton Hall (13-5, 6-1) out-rebounded St. John’s by 21, outscored them in the paint, 28-24, and toyed with them for most of the night. 

“It’s just really about taking a step back and really challenging ourselves as men, as players. That team just punked us. That’s all they did,” Jenkins said. “They played their game. That’s the way we should play. They play for steals, they play aggressive, they crash the offensive glass and they know themselves on offense.” 

The Johnnies (12-6, 4-3) now face a critical two-game homestand against No. 17 Marquette on Saturday and Villanova four days later.

There is optimism that Pitino will be back by then.

He began to feel symptoms last Thursday, but tested negative on Friday and Saturday.

He began feeling ill again after shootaround on Tuesday and tested positive.

St. John’s was also without guard Jordan Dingle due to COVID, according to a source. 

“It’s not about excuses,” Masiello said. “This is college basketball. Adversity’s gonna happen every day, you have to respond to it. We didn’t respond very well.” 

Seton Hall, meanwhile, continued its remarkable run to start the league season.

It is all alone atop the Big East standings at 6-1 after it was picked to finish ninth in the conference. Kadary Richmond, a Big East Player of the Year contender, controlled the game.

He notched 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists and Al-Amir Dawes added 21 points. 

The start to the first half was poor and the finish to it was worse.

Seton Hall scored the game’s first six points and the final 14 of the opening stanza, taking a commanding 14-point lead into the break. 

Over the final 4:33 of the half, St. John’s went scoreless and committed four turnovers.

It didn’t get better after the intermission.

Seton Hall scored the first 14 points, racing out to a 52-24 lead.

It wasn’t until Glenn Taylor Jr.’s 3-pointer that St. John’s finally scored, ending an 8 ¹/₂-minute scoring drought. 

“We knew coming out of halftime, we needed to come out punching, we needed to come out swinging,” Jenkins said. “It was almost as if we went the other way, went the other direction. Instead of fighting back, it’s like we gave in.”