Four games into its Big East schedule, St. John’s is starting to make itself more recognizable.

The Red Storm’s winless start to the conference schedule ended Saturday afternoon at the Garden, as they pulled out a 74-67 victory over DePaul. Despite the win, the Johnnies on the offensive end bore little resemblence to the team that lost just two games in November and December.

“Fighting, fighting, fighting. It’s good to see them finally get over the hump in Big East play. … It’s a good sign,” first year head coach Mike Anderson said. “I thought we shared the basketball well. We had 23 assists on 25 field goals. We have to work on finishing off games, but we had a lot of unsung heroes step up today that gave us quality minutes.”

Despite hanging around with the Blue Demons (12-4, 0-3) for most of the first half, shooting woes for the Red Storm (12-5, 1-3) were evident from the start. After starting out 6-for-17 from the field, they bounced back to finish the game shooting just over 40 percent, still under their season average of 41.3.

Rasheem Dunn was inserted into Anderson’s lineup for the first time this season and made that decision look prescient. He scored a season-high 19 points on 7-for-13 shooting, one of just three Red Storm players to reach double figure scoring on the day. Julian Champagnie chipped in 11 points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting, one of the “unsung heroes” Anderson to whom referred.

Dunn, who also reached season-highs in assists (five) and rebounds (eight), did not view the start differently from any other game.

“Coach always tells us to be ready and step up, just to get the win,” the redshirt junior guard said. “It doesn’t matter who starts, it’s who finishes.”

Despite the first-half shooting woes, when senior guard Nick Rutherford put in a layup as time expired, St. John’s headed into intermission with a five-point lead, an advantage that grew to as many as 12 points in the second half as the Johnnies beat DePaul for the first time at the Garden since 2014.

The Blue Demons won the overall battle underneath and on second-chance points, scoring 26 points in the paint in the first half alone.

“Coming into the game, when you play St. John’s, you have to play different than usual because of how they play offense and defense,” DePaul’s head coach Dave Leitao said. “They sped us up physically, but more importantly, they sped us up mentally.”

The Red Storm also seemed to speed themselves up, on several instances early in the game turning a steal and subsequent fast-break opportunity into a missed 3-point shot or a turnover of their own. The same issues had plagued St. John’s since the start of the Big East slate.

The story of the second half was free throws, with St. John’s shooting as many in the first eight minutes of the second half as they had in the entire first half. DePaul was already in the double-bonus with eight minutes left in the game, which helped them stick around.

Not all was lost on the offensive end. Senior guard Mustapha Heron poured in 15 points, a tick above his season average of 13.8. He attributed his big day to a sense of “patience,” allowing his teammates to get him the basketball in the right spots.

He led the Johnnies with 10 first-half points, which was aided by a stat correction made at the break that changed one of his 2-point buckets into a 3-pointer.

The Red Storm return to the Garden on Saturday to host Seton Hall, but for now, they are happy to earn their first win of the new decade.

“Everyday I keep reminding myself that I’m in this building, on this team, for a reason,” said Dunn, when asked about what it feels like to play at the Garden. “It’s exciting to play here. When my teammates push me and we play together, that’s how we got the win today.”

Greg Williams Jr. returned after missing the previous game in concussion protocol. He scored four points, despite not making a field goal attempt.