St. John's overwhelms DePaul en route to fourth win in row in Big East opener
St. John's guard Simeon Wilcher shoots for a basket over DePaul guard Conor Enright in the first half of a Big East men's basketball game at Carnesecca Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
St. John’s met the occasion of its Big East opener with a special performance that could prove predictive of the way it will play in the big moments this season.
The Red Storm’s effort was relentless against DePaul on Tuesday night. They suffocated an excellent three-point shooting team on the arc and forced 20 turnovers. They played fast and kept making the extra pass.
The Red Storm was strong before halftime and overpowering after the break as it blew past the much-improved Blue Demons for an 89-61 win before a sellout crowd of 5,602 at Carnesecca Arena. St. John’s (9-2, 1-0) has won four straight.
“We were brilliant tonight on defense – it was by far our best game of the season in all phases,” Storm coach Rick Pitino said. “I’m real proud of our guys: totally locked in, (had) great respect for DePaul and they showed it tonight with that type of defense.”
Asked if this is the team St. John’s is going to be the rest of the season, Simeon Wilcher replied, “One thousand percent and we’re only going to get better.”
The Red Storm got strong performances from all over. RJ Luis Jr. had 19 points on 7-for11 shooting, Kadary Richmond scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds, Wilcher had 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting and Zuby Ejiofor had 12 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots for St. John’s.
But the biggest difference-maker was arguably point guard Deivon Smith, who made his first start since the Nov. 24 loss to Georgia in the Bahamas and seemed to be in the middle of all the best moments. He accelerated the pace of the game with his speed and finished with nine points, eight assists, six rebounds and five steals.
“He's not only very fast, but he's a very smart young man,” Pitino said of Smith. “He ignites you because he rebounds the ball as well. He's unselfish. I decided to go with him because we weren't getting out of the blocks with our break and he makes the break go.”
“We made a huge jump,” Smith said. “It’s been a strong plea from coach: stopping the three ball (and) picking (shooters) up. . . . Our biggest goal was putting two halves together: finishing the last four minutes of the first half and then coming out strong. I definitely think we did that today.”
St. John turned an 11-point halftime lead into a complete rout in the first 9:27 of the second half. It outscored DePaul 30-8 and in that stretch the Demons were 2-for-10 with eight turnovers. The Storm, meanwhile, was 13-for-17 from the floor. Richmond had 11 points and Wilcher six in the run and Smith had four assists and two steals.
Ejiofor capped it with a nifty inside more for a reverse layup and a 70-37 lead with 10:33 to play.
“Once we put all the stuff we can't control to the side and just lock in and play for each other, we play our best basketball,” Smith said. “Once we lock in and play for each other, we're unstoppable honestly.”
For the game St. John’s shot 55% from the floor, forced 20 turnovers and had a 41-29 edge rebounding. The Blue Demons (9-2, 0-2) were averaging 12.8 three-pointers on 31.7 attempts and went just 6-for-20 on the arc.
Layden Blocker scored 17 points for the Blue Demons.
“I can't tell you how blown away I am by the score here. . . . we played off the charts,” Pitino said. “I think we have the potential to be an outstanding team. . . . Yes, we played great tonight. Have we taken a quantum leap? We'll see when we play Providence on the road [Friday] for our first Big East road game in probably the toughest environment in the Big East Conference.”
DePaul coach honors Carnesecca: DePaul coach Chris Holtmann paid homage to the late Lou Carnesecca by donning a colorful sweater for the game. It was found at a thrift store and is the same brand as chevron sweater Carnesecca made famous.
“That was for Lou,” he said. “There's a group of coaches that you kind of grew up watching, admiring [and] following their teams. I grew up in Kentucky. But I remember watching him and where him wearing the sweater. He had a profound impact on the game and [I] wanted to pay respect.”
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.