St. John's routs Delaware as Deivon Smith puts up double-double
St. John's guard Deivon Smith dribbles the ball defended by Delaware guard Cavan Reilly in the second half of a non-conference men’s basketball game at Carnesecca Arena on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
For 20 minutes on Saturday night, St. John’s looked very much like the team it’s going to need to be as it rolls into the New Year and the teeth of the Big East schedule.
The 20 minutes after halftime? Not so much.
Given a chance to shake off any rust from an eight-day break with its final non-conference game, the Red Storm were completely overpowering against Delaware in the first half. They found their high gear fast, led by 10 after only 7:44 and were ahead by 20 after 16:28.
But after the first 20 minutes, when it led by as much as 23, St. John’s (11-2) lacked that intensity in the second half and more or less cruised to a 97-76 victory before a sellout crowd of 5,602 at Carnesecca Arena.
“Any time you win, you should be pleased,” coach Rick Pitino said. “But to be honest with you, I’m anything but pleased.”
The Red Storm will take a six-game winning streak to Omaha for a New Year’s Eve date with Creighton. They will host Butler next weekend before a road game at Xavier.
In a preseason poll of conference coaches, Xavier was tabbed to finish third and Creighton fourth ahead of the fifth-place Red Storm. St. John’s hasn’t won in Omaha since the 2018-19 season.
Both Xavier and Creighton have been dealing with serious injury issues, but for road games like those, St. John’s will need to be the team it was before halftime on Saturday for an entire 40 minutes.
“We were just locked in,” Deivon Smith said. “I still think we need to play two halves, play two complete halves.”
Smith continues to be a bigger revelation with every game St. John’s plays. He was the best player on the court and finished with 20 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. Since his conduct issue in the Nov. 24 loss to Georgia in the Bahamas and subsequent team-imposed benching against Harvard, the transfer from Utah has played with inspiration.
“I feel good, honestly, coming back from the suspension,” he said. “I just had a different mindset. I missed the game . . . I just was watching and I don’t really like to watch. I like to be involved . . . So I just use every day to compete and get better.”
Zuby Ejiofor and RJ Luis Jr. each scored 16 points, Simeon Wilcher had 12, Vince Iwuchukwu had a season-high 11 and Kadary Richmond added 10 points and seven assists for St. John’s. The Red Storm shot 61% for the game, was 8-for-12 on three-pointers and turned 15 Blue Hens turnovers into 16 points.
Josh Camden had 35 points, including nine three-pointers, for Delaware (7-6). The Blue Hens didn’t let St. John’s expand its lead after the intermission as they shot 58% overall and 7-for-14 on three-point attempts in the final 20 minutes.
“Everything was going good and we’ve just got to be more locked in on the second half,” Ejiofor said, “and play a full 40-minute game.”
Asked about completing the 11 non-conference games with a 9-2 mark, Pitino replied: “I think we did our job. I don’t think we’re near our potential, which is a good thing, not a bad thing,”
Smith was the catalyst for just about every positive as the Red Storm rolled into halftime with a 48-29 lead after shooting 54.6% from the floor, including 5-for-8 on three-pointers. Smith had 13 of his points, eight of his rebounds and three of his assists.
“Before the game, Coach gave us a speech: ‘Play like Zuby,’ so I tried to get more rebounds than Zuby,” Smith said.
Said Pitino: “Deivon has picked up his game to Zuby’s level, which is great. He’s really, really playing hard. And if we can get the rest of the pack to join in at those levels from an intensity standpoint, it’d be great.”
Notes & quotes: There was no postgame handshake line. Pitino has said he prefers not to do them because there have been incidents during them throughout college basketball this season and the Red Storm nearly had one after beating Bryant . . . Ruben Prey, the 6-10 freshman from Portugal, was in the starting lineup for the first time this season . . . Brady Dunlap, who had Dec. 19 surgery to repair a ligament in his left hand, has not rejoined the team yet but is expected back on campus well before the student body returns for classes.
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.
