It took all of one meeting for first-year coach Steve Pikiell to win over his Stony Brook players.

“His actions stood out,” said senior guard and Bronx native Bobby Santiago. “He got the job, and he wanted to meet with us at about 10:00 that night. And he asked us what type of ball we wanted to play.

“I was kind of surprised,” continued Santiago. “A lot of Division I coaches, a lot of coaches around the world, they see what they see and they run their offense. They fit the players to it. He heard us.”

The results, so far, have been mixed. Stony Brook, which plays at St. John’s tonight, is off to an 0-3 start, having lost a 55-54 heartbreaker to Columbia and suffered a 58-54 setback at Lehigh.

Still, the Seawolves – who travel with just eight players, four of whom are freshmen – think they can make a run at the America East title. They’ve already played Villanova and will face Hofstra, Connecticut, George Washington and Boston College.

“With the non-league schedule we’re playing, we’re not going to be intimidated once we get into America East play,” said Pikiell. “Our freshmen are going to have to grow up fast and we’re going to be much improved on defense, that I know.”

Pikiell replaced former Fordham coach Nick Macarchuk, who helped Stony Brook make the transition to Division I. The new coach asked his players for input, he said, because he wanted to establish a sense of trust as quickly as he could. But the former GW assistant knows that nothing builds trust like winning.

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St. John’s (4-1) bounced back from a 64-51 loss to Hofstra by beating Charleston Southern 64-50 on Saturday night. The Seawolves have to find a way of matching the Red Storm’s inside game of Lamont Hamilton and Aaron Spears.

Maybe Pikiell’s players will have some suggestions.

lenn.robbins@nypost.com