Point guard Devion Smith pushes St. John's offense on faster pace
St. John's guard Deivon Smith gestures after scoring a three-point basket against Bryant in the first half at Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Some plays leave a lasting impression. Deivon Smith’s second dunk in St. John’s win last Wednesday over Bryant is one of them. Aaron Scott missed an open three-pointer from the left wing late and the 6-foot Smith went shockingly high, corralled the carom off the rim and made the righthanded stuff. Red Storm coach Rick Pitino said the play left him “speechless” and it was No. 4 on that night’s SportsCenter Top 10 plays.
But Smith should be front-of-mind for reasons aside from the dunk as St. John’s (8-2) goes into Tuesday’s 6:30 p.m. Big East opener against DePaul (8-2, 0-1) Tuesday at Carnesecca Arena. The grad transfer from Utah has turned the page on a disciplinary action from the Storm’s Nov. 24 loss in the Bahamas to unranked Georgia and emerged as a potent weapon.
Smith, who Pitino has called “one of the fastest” players he’s coached, looks like a high-impact player. When he’s in at point guard, St. John’s plays the fast pace the coach wants. He came off the bench against Bryant to accrue 14 points, four rebounds and three assists and the Storm outscored the Bulldogs by 18 points in the 17 minutes he was in the game.
“Playing fast gives us an advantage and it works,” Smith said Monday. “We score points quickly, get shooters open, second chance shots and stuff like that. [It’s] an advantage and a plus that I bring to this team, my change of pace.”
“He's a really valuable player on the team and we're going to need him for the rest of the season,” junior center Zuby Ejiofor said.
Though St. John’s is heavily favored, Pitino suggested the Blue Demons are going to be a difficult matchup. DePaul ranks second in the nation with 12.3 three-pointers per game and shoots 40% in the arc. One of the Storm’s bigger weaknesses is defending the three-point line, where opponents make 34% on their attempts.
“This game is going to go down to the wire," Pitino said Monday. "It’ll be a flat-out war. We're not guarding the three-point shot very well and this team is . . . one of the best shooting teams in the nation. I’d put them against anyone.”
St. John’s best wins thus far are only against New Mexico and Kansas State. But the Big East has performed badly against non-conference opponents. Only No. 9 Marquette and No. 11 Connecticut are in the AP Top 25 issued Monday. The Storm and Creighton are receiving votes and St. John’s has a chance to stand among the conference’s elite.
“Every single one of us believes that we can win the league,” Ejiofor said. “[Tuesday] is going to tell a lot about this group. We still have a lot to prove.”
Smith ran afoul of Pitino with his conduct during and after the team’s final game in the Caribbean and he charged his players with addressing the matter after Smith apologized to the team and coaching staff. The players restricted him from practice for a week and benched him for the Nov. 30 win over Harvard. Smith said lessons were learned.
“No man is bigger than the program,” Smith said. “Honestly, we have a bunch of great, talented guys and I'm one of them. And [this] could happen to any one of them. [Pitino] set a standard and I had to follow it. I broke it and I was an example . . . It just had to happen for everybody to [unite].”
“I think that the team did the right thing and gave him a one-game suspension,” Pitino said. “I probably would have given him two.”
When Pitino delegated discipling Smith to the team, Ejiofor, one of the tri-captains, managed to negotiate a tough situation.
“I'd rather take it from my teammates because I have to be out there going to war [with them],” Smith said. “Coach can only give us the tools to win and be successful, but we have to go through all these tough times together. . . . For my teammates to hold me accountable and for me to be able to hold them accountable? I think that was pretty cool. I respect my teammates for that.”
The episode is vanishing quickly in the rear-view mirror and conference play is getting big in the windshield.
“Basketball could be taken away from you at any second,” Smith said. “I missed doing what I love, being with my teammates . . . I learned more about myself just without basketball . . . I wouldn't do [anything] like that and miss any playing time.”
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.
