St. John's freshman Simeon Wilcher: 'My time will come'

Rick Pitino was trying to do two things when he brought in 12 new players to St. John’s this past offseason. He wanted veterans to give the Red Storm the chance to succeed quickly, and he wanted younger players who could be foundational.

Among that second group, no player stood out like Simeon Wilcher. The 6-4 guard out of Roselle Catholic in New Jersey had taken his school to consecutive state titles, was sought-after nationally and had committed to North Carolina. When he reopened his recruitment and chose St. John’s, Wilcher became the program’s highest-rated high school recruit in more than a decade.

Wilcher played an important role as the Red Storm eked out a 90-85 Big East victory at Georgetown on Wednesday night. He came off the bench with 15:49 left in the game after the Hoyas cut a 21-point first-half deficit to seven. In the first 90 seconds he was on the court, he had an assist, a steal and a layup.

Wilcher scored seven points in seven minutes and St. John’s outscored Georgetown by five while he was on the court. Pitino said Wilcher gave the team a “big lift.”

“I said ‘Sim, play great, we need you,’ and he did,” Pitino said. “He played great. But I will say this with Sim: He’s been playing great in practices .  .  . We had to win this game and, going into a big game Sunday, I put him in — not [senior Nahiem Alleyne] — that’s how much confidence I have in him. He made a big shot, some big plays.

“He can play more minutes than he even played tonight. He didn’t play a whole lot. He played seven minutes. I’d like to get him 10 to 12 minutes for the remainder of the season.”

That big game?

St. John’s (15-12, 7-9) will face No. 15 Creighton (20-7, 11-5) at noon at Madison Square Garden. The school plans to give away 12,000 T-shirts and stage a “white out” in the arena as part of a celebration dubbed “Johnnies Day.” Pitino even took to social media to exhort fans to come.

A one-point loss at Creighton on Jan. 13 kicked off a 2-8 stretch that has made the Red Storm a long shot for the NCAA Tournament. A signature win over the Bluejays could improve their odds.

Pitino has played Wilcher sparingly this season. Some of it has to do with being the backup to Daniss Jenkins, the team’s most consistent performer, and some of it, Pitino has said, has been about learning the plays, decision-making and the defense he requires from a point guard.

Wilcher started and played only three minutes at Xavier and hasn’t played at all in three of the past six games. It has sparked a notion around the country and among the St. John’s fan base that a transfer is on the horizon, perhaps to find a faster route to the NBA somewhere else.

Wilcher put those notions to rest Friday.

“I just feel that I’ve been through so much this year and there’s no reason to just up and go through the same thing next year somewhere else,’’ he said. “I feel like I’m pretty comfortable here.

“I’m not in a rush to try and get to the next level. I just want to be the best player that I can be so when my time comes for me — if God blesses me with the chance to move on to the next level — that I’m completely ready and that I can stay there. And not have to be a player that’s in the league one year, [then] out of the league. I want to be there and stay there.”

Pitino often has spoken about Wilcher having a big future with St. John’s and referred to him as the “heir apparent” to Jenkins. He also has said that two of his best point guards at Louisville — Peyton Siva and Russ Smith — barely played as freshmen.

“He always brings up how good of a player that . . . Russ Smith was, that Peyton Siva was and how they didn’t play their freshman years, and I just think that’s a part of this process,” Wilcher said.

That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been some frustration for him.

“Of course there’s times when you know that you could help the team in a way, but it’s just how things work out,” he said. “So it’s just staying the course and you’ve got to try to stay as positive as possible.”

Much of Wilcher’s patience is rooted in the high ceiling Pitino sees for him and his belief that he has the right coach to get him there.

“To just have a coach like Pitino be ‘all-in’ on you is a blessing in itself,” Wilcher said. “Just having the opportunity to be here and grow and become a better player, that’s the only thing I am hoping for. And I know Coach Pitino is the person that can do that. I am happy where I am. I can’t complain .  .  . I know my time is going to come.”

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.