St. John’s season-opening victory Tuesday night came with an asterisk. As impressive as the 58-point win was, the opponent, Mississippi Valley State, is projected to be one of the worst teams in the country.

Saturday afternoon was different. St. Peter’s, which nearly upset Atlantic 10 contender VCU in its opener, was picked to finish second in the MAAC behind Iona. Last year, the Peacocks nearly upset St. John’s in a thriller that wasn’t decided until the final seconds, and they returned their entire team.

That’s what made this one-sided win stand out. The Red Storm’s thorough 91-70 victory at Carnesecca Arena came against a more representative opponent, and it was never in doubt.

“They’re a different team from last year. They upgraded tremendously,” said St. Peter’s coach Shaheen Holloway, the former Seton Hall star and assistant. “They’ve got better players. He’s got players, when you go to your bench, you’re not losing anything. When you can have that, that’s a sign of a great team.”

Similar to the opening romp, there were mostly positives for St. John’s: Balanced scoring, strong rebounding and intense effort in the wire-to-wire win. The Johnnies (2-0) were too big, too athletic and too deep, and they imposed their will in terms of tempo and physicality. Holloway said the Peacocks (0-2) got “punked.”

The Red Storm’s two stars, Julian Champagnie and Posh Alexander, led the way. Champagnie scored 22 points on 13 shots and Alexander had 12 points and nine assists. They were supported by quality efforts from a number of teammates. Super-sub Tareq Coburn had 17 points in 23 minutes to go over 1,000 for his career, spanning three schools. Joel Soriano had his way in the paint, notching eight points, five rebounds and four blocks, Aaron Wheeler contributed 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench, and Montez Mathis chipped in seven points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

“It just shows we’re all getting along together, we’re becoming a real team,” Champagnie said. “We still have things to work on, but we’re getting it.”

The lopsided result let St. John’s coach Mike Anderson mix and match with different lineups. He played 11 guys for the second straight game. He repeatedly went with all reserves, and without a significant drop-off.

St. John’s picked up where it left off in the opener, racing out to a 12-point lead just 6:17 in. The Johnnies were hot from 3-point range early, with four different players — Champagnie, Alexander, Dylan Addae-Wusu and Wheeler — having converted from beyond the arc at that point. They went 13-for-29 from 3-point range, while limiting St. Peter’s to 7-for-21 from deep.

Coburn electrified the crowd upon checking in, as he did in the opener, scoring eight straight points on his own to push the lead to 18. At one point in the opening half, St. John’s was up by 20, and Champagnie had scored just five points. No matter the opponent last year, St. John’s rarely — if ever — built big leads when its leading scorer wasn’t putting up big numbers.

“I told them today, I was really encouraged,” Anderson said. “They’re buying into what we’re trying to do. It goes back to the players that [were already] here. They’re very unselfish individuals.

“This has the potential to be a really fun basketball team.”

This year’s Red Storm seem to be built differently from last year’s group. How much better is yet to be determined. St. John’s will get its first true test Wednesday when it visits Indiana at Assembly Hall in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.

“I think we’re super-ready,” Champagnie said.

St. John’s hosted recruits Devere Palmer, Dwayne Pierce, Jaylin Lewis, Devin Vanterpool and Markell Alston from Queens powerhouse Christ the King, per a source.