NEW YORK -- Some quick thoughts on St. John's 82-60 win over Georgetown on Sunday at Madison Square Garden:

What it means: St. John's played its best game of the season, against the team that handed the Red Storm their worst defeat six weeks ago.

After an 0-5 start in the Big East, the Red Storm have now won five in a row and eight of their past nine games. They don't just look like an NCAA tournament team, they look like a team capable of doing some serious damage in the Big Dance.

St. John's improved to 17-9 overall, 7-6 in the Big East. Georgetown fell to 15-10 overall, 6-7 in the conference.

The turning point: St. John's jumped all over Georgetown this time around, scoring the first 15 points of the game. The Hoyas went more than six minutes before scoring their first point. Rysheed Jordan led the charge, with the first seven points of the game. The Red Storm shot 17-for-25 in the first half (68 percent), and led 46-28 at intermission.

St. John's extended its lead to as many as 20 (52-32) on a Jordan 3-pointer with 17:25 remaining. But Georgetown closed to within seven, 56-49, on an Aaron Bowen layup with 10:47 left. That's as close as things got. D'Angelo Harrison hit a huge 3-pointer on the very next possession to extend the lead back to 10, and the Red Storm put the game away from there.

Star watch: Harrison and Jordan finished with 24 points apiece. For Harrison it was his 12th game of the season with 20 or more points. For Jordan it was a career high, eclipsing his 18 points at Providence on Feb. 4.

D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera had a team-high 15 points for Georgetown.

Number crunch: St. John's cooled off some in the second half but still shot 57.4 percent for the game (27-for-47). And the Hoyas came in ranked 27th in the country in field-goal percentage defense (39.5). Very, very impressive.

What's next: St. John's hosts Butler on Tuesday. Georgetown plays at Seton Hall on Thursday.