Sports

Hardy strengthens St. John’s surge in Big East

Father and son had a father-and-son talk before the season started.

Dwight Cannon wanted to know the thoughts and feelings of his son, Dwight Hardy, going into his senior season at St. John’s. There had been a coaching change and no one knew what role Steve Lavin would have for the guard from The Bronx.

“He said, ‘All I want to do is make the [NCAA] Tournament,’ ” Cannon told The Post after the Red Storm’s 89-72 demolition of Connecticut that might help the Johnnies realize that goal.

“That’s his goal, to lead St. John’s back to the NCAA Tournament,” Cannon added. “He and all the seniors are tight on that. They want to get there and they don’t care who the star is. You see in the way they played [against UConn] and against Duke.”

The Red Storm might not care who stars each game, but there is no question that the brightest light this season has come from the laser shooting of Hardy.

He torched Connecticut for a career-high 33 points just days after lighting up Pauley Pavilion with 32 against the Bruins. In those two games, Hardy hit 23-of-41 shots including a sizzling 8-of-14 on 3-pointers and 11-of-12 on free throws.

En Fuego.

Lavin said at the start of the season Hardy is the best pure shooter he has coached. After the win over UConn, even Lavin was dazzled by what he witnessed from Hardy and the other seniors that dismantled the Huskies possession by possession, just as they had dismantled Duke.

“There are those moments, they don’t happen very often, when as a coach you’re able to step back, take a deep breath and just kind of enjoy as a fan what’s transpiring,” Lavin said. “And with this group, it’s even more unique because they’re seniors and they’ve been through so much.

“So you’re rooting for them to do well. So it makes the wins that much sweeter because they’re such a good group, they’ve adapted to us so well and you’re just pulling for them to finish on a high note.”

To that end, Lavin allowed the Red Storm (14-9, 6-5 Big East), no time to celebrate the Connecticut win. He gave them two hours to enjoy the Duke victory, but the Johnnies begin the most crucial road swing of the season when they play at two other Big East bubble teams: Cincinnati today and Marquette on Tuesday.

Cincinnati (19-5, 6-5) edged the Johnnies 53-51 at Carnesecca Arena on Jan. 22 when the Red Storm went a horrific 12-of-26 from the foul line. St. John’s needs to even the score in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament selection committee.

“We already circled Cincinnati and talked about while it would be natural to want to celebrate and party with your classmates and enjoy this win, we just can’t afford to,” Lavin said. “We to wait until the spring [to celebrate] and sacrifice if we’re going to do something special. As soon as the game was over we put Cincinnati on the board and circled them.”

Hardy and the seniors circled this season. They all came to St. John’s with a vow of putting the program back on the map — and took a big step with the win over UConn.

“These kids gave a valiant effort,” Cannon said. “They’ve given a valiant effort since they got here. They deserve everything they get.”

lenn.robbins@nypost.com