St. John's teammates keeping faith with each other, and Sadiku Ibine Ayo, during Ramadan
St. John's Sadiku Ibine Ayo reacts during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against UConn on Feb. 23 at Madison Square Garden. Credit: AP/Seth Wenig
MILWAUKEE
Defense has been the cornerstone of St. John’s success this season, and if you haven’t had the chance to witness the way the sixth-ranked Red Storm work together to finish an opponent, you’ve missed something impressive.
When the Red Storm switch and communicate on defense, they are completely connected. That unity is there off the court as well. It may be one secret ingredient that makes this team special.
The observance of Ramadan began Feb. 28 and continues for 30 days. Those in the Muslim faith such as Red Storm tri-captain Sadiku Ibine Ayo follow a series of traditions that include prayer and fasting between sunrise and sunset. Ibine Ayo said there is no listening to music or cursing, either.
His teammates didn’t want him to go it alone. Several, none Muslim, ventured to follow the traditions with him in solidarity. Kadary Richmond, who rooms with Ibine Ayo on the road, Aaron Scott and Jaiden Glover all gave it a try. Richmond’s stint ran the longest before going without food or water for 12 hours each day — including during practices — proved too challenging.
“I’m done fasting — my body can’t take that kind of abuse,” Richmond said in Zoom interviews Friday. “So I did three or four days with him, but I’ve got to eat today and drink as much as I can for this game tomorrow.”
St. John’s (26-4, 17-2 Big East) plays No. 20 Marquette (22-8, 13-6) at noon Saturday at Fiserv Forum. Though the Red Storm clinched their first outright Big East regular-season title in 40 years last Saturday at the Garden, they’re dead serious about this Quad I contest that could factor into NCAA Tournament seeding. And they’re almost certainly going to be without Deivon Smith, who coach Rick Pitino said hasn’t practiced in five days as they try to get him past a right shoulder injury that’s hampered him for almost two months.
“It’s important that we play great basketball,” Pitino said. “We played a great game against UConn in the Garden and then the next two we did not play great basketball. It’s important that . . . we get back to playing great basketball.”
Pitino became aware that Ibine Ayo had begun the Ramadan traditions only after the Red Storm’s huge on-court celebration at the Garden when he returned to a locker room absent the usual celebratory music.
“I said, ‘What’s with you guys?’ ” Pitino said. “And they said [Ibine Ayo] is not allowed to listen to music.”
Pitino gets that Ibine Ayo is practicing his religion, but he doesn’t want other players fasting voluntarily. “It’s very dangerous — you can’t do that,” he said. “You can’t go through practice without water.
“So I grabbed Sadiku the next day and I said, ‘I need you to do me a big favor . . . I need you for one month to change and become a Catholic,’ ” Pitino said. “He said, ‘I’ll do anything for you . . . but I can’t do that.' ”
Ibine Ayo didn’t know he was kidding. Then Pitino shared some advantages, such as the opportunity to listen to music and the only dietary restriction being avoiding meat on Fridays.
Ibine Ayo’s response: “Well, I want you to come over to my side and help me out.”
Pitino agreed to fast — not to cut back on music — and even agreed to stop swearing, something hard to envision for anyone who’s seen an episode of the VICE TV docuseries about St. John’s season.
Pitino amused the audience with this story during Thursday’s appearance on “The Tonight Show” — he even seemed disappointed that it was edited out — and added, “I tempted him like Jesus was tempted.”
Great stories aside, this inside look at the relationship Pitino and the Red Storm players share says something about what’s going on.
“It means the world to me and it kind of shows how they love me and appreciate my presence around them, which is everything to me,” Ibine Ayo said. “If my teammates . . . are willing to do that to me, that means they’ll do everything for me.”
Ibine Ayo rises well before sunrise for prayer. Pitino is renowned for waking at 5 a.m. to go work out, but he wasn’t going to do pre-dawn prayer. Instead, he had an alternative: “I told him every time guys take a jump shot, I will pray.”
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.
