SAN DIEGO - The fifth-seeded St. John's men's basketball team (29-6) stormed out of the gate in its 2026 NCAA Tournament debut against 12th seed Northern Iowa (23-13) and never looked back to punch its ticket to the Second Round. The Johnnies scored the first 13 points of the contest and hit six of their first nine 3-point attempts to go up 19 just over 12 minutes into the game.
With the victory, the Johnnies have won games in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. St. John's will face the winner of fourth-seeded Kansas and 13th seed Cal Baptist on Sunday with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line at Viejas Arena.