PROVIDENCE, R.I. — When Rick Pitino is at his best, and age 72 hasn’t kept him from being at his best, he can take a team that is The Hunted and transform it into The Hunter.

For 20 minutes, St. John’s played as The Hunted. The Hunter showed up with a vengeance in the second half. The Real St. John’s, an 83-53 winner, showed up in the second half.

That is when every last Johnnie began honoring Pitino’s mandate to play the game as if it were the last game they were going to play.

Red Storm Rising.

Red Storm Raging.

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. — St. John’s took out the trash. 

Omaha never came close to their quirky postgame tradition of beating up a trash bin after victories. Instead, it was the second-seeded Johnnies who were the ones celebrating as Thursday night became Friday morning after their first NCAA Tournament victory in 25 years. 

First-half nerves for this win-starved fan base turned into a stress-free final 15 minutes as this second-half team continued its dominance over opponents after halftime.

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Game over: St. John's 83, Omaha 53.

The Johnnies outscored the Mavericks by 25 points in the second half.

Next up on Saturday: St. John's vs. Arkansas. Rick Pitino vs. John Calipari.

Calipari has a 13-10 all-time advantage of Pitino at their various schools.

St. John's fans changed "M-V-P" and gave R.J. Luis a nice ovation when he checked out with four minutes remaining in the blowout win against Omaha.

Luis finished with 22 points and eight rebounds.

Most importantly, the Big East Player of the Year was on fire in the first half when St. John's started slowly and really needed him to pick up the lack left by Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond.

Luis shot 5-of-8 from 3-point range. If that hot hand continues, the ceiling for St. John's in this tournament can be raised a few levels.

St. John's is routing Omaha.

Creighton punished Louisville.

Xavier hung on to beat Texas in a First Four battle of the bubble.

It's a good start for the Big East, with Marquette (against Richard Pitino-coached New Mexico) and UConn (against Oklahoma) up Friday.

That's more than the ACC can say, after losses by Louisville and Clemson (both of whom went18-2 in conference).

And it's been a very uneven day for the 14-bid SEC: Heavy favorites Auburn and Tennessee rolled ... Texas A&M and Arkansas survived ... but Georgia and Missouri joined Texas in elimination. There are seven more games involving SEC teams on Friday.

With 11 minutes left in the game, Zuby Ejiofor was subbed out after he took an awkward step and grabbed his toe.

The Big East's Most Improved Player might not have to return to this game unless Omaha makes a serious dent in its 22-point deficit, so we won't know exactly whether he can re-enter or not. He seemed to be OK walking back to the bench.

Something to ask about after the game, for sure.

Among the Power Five conference programs, St. John's is the team with the longest active streak between NCAA Tournament wins -- dating to 2000.

Georgia, which lost earlier today, is next up with a streak dating to 2002.

The asterisk would be that Nebraska has never won a game in the tournament in eight attempts.

The Red Storm's streak of futility is about to end, as St. John's has jumped out to a 56-36 lead with 13 minutes remaining.

(Source: CBS graphic)

St. John's jumped up by 10 -- its largest lead at that time -- only 70 seconds into the first half.

Kadary Richmond, who was in foul trouble, put in the layup. It's noteworthy that St. John's has 41 points without big contributions from Richmond and Zuby Ejiofor (four points each).

By the time a second-half opening 10-2 run forced an Omaha timeout, St. John's led 43-30.

This has been a second-half team all season long. Looks like tonight is no different?

Bench points: St. John's 11, Omaha 0.

That was as big of a difference as anything in the first half, as St. John's overcame an early seven-point deficit to take a 33-28 lead into the locker room.

Deivon Smith has five points, Ruben Prey has three and Vince Iwuchukwu has three. Here is Smith finding Iwuchukwu for some breathing room in the final seconds.

It took nearly 14 minutes, but St. John's took its first lead, 22-20, on a 3 by Deivon Smith.

After Omaha tied the score on an emphatic defense, St. John's punched back again on a 3 by seldom-used Ruben Prey. In the game because of Kadary Richmond's foul trouble, Prey played nine TOTAL minutes in the three Big East Tournament wins.

Simeon Wilcher hit a third straight 3 as the Red Storm jumped out to a 28-22 lead.

Completely out-of-character way of scoring. Is it sustainable?

The Johnnies are 6-of-15 from long range but getting out-rebounded, 18-15. No one would have predicted either of those stats.

St. John's isn't deep and it is going to the bench early.

Richmond has two points and two fouls with 9:32 remaining in the first half.

It's bad news because Richmond is a downhill rim-attacker ... and St. John's is settling for too many outside shots.