Three takeaways from St. John's win over DePaul
Deivon Smith of the St. John's Red Storm dribbles up the court against the DePaul Blue Demons during the first half at Wintrust Arena on Wednesday in Chicago. Credit: Getty Images/Michael Reaves
St. John’s was shorthanded Wednesday night but managed to stay on pace to capture its first outright Big East regular-season title in 40 years with an 82-58 victory over DePaul at the Blue Demons’ Wintrust Arena.
The 10th-ranked Red Storm (23-4, 14-2) had only nine available players. Leading scorer RJ Luis Jr., who was a game-time decision with a groin strain, did not play. Jaiden Glover was out with a wrist injury and Vince Iwuchukwu stayed in New York because of an illness. Still, they rolled to a win over the last-place Blue Demons.
Deivon Smith had 18 points, five assists and four rebounds, Kadary Richmond added 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists and Zuby Ejiofor had 13 points and nine rebounds to lead the Red Storm. The big surprise was the contribution of Sadiku Ibine Ayo, who came into the game having scored only 20 points all season and finished with a career-high 15, including three three-pointers.
And hey, St. John’s can actually make three-point shots, shooting 9-for-21.
The Red Storm shot 46.4% (32-for-69) from the floor.
Here are three takeaways from the victory, St. John’s 12th in 13 games:
1. Luis could be back Sunday
Coach Rick Pitino hasn’t been particularly accurate with assessing how long a player will be out with an injury. Smith returned last Sunday after Pitino said he’d miss several games. When asked about Luis’ groin injury after the win in Chicago, Pitino said, “RJ is probably going to miss Connecticut with a pulled groin.”
The Hall of Fame coach was a master motivator with his declarations in getting Smith back and he may be doing the same with Luis. After the game, he said Richmond has exactly the same injury as Luis and is playing through it.
“I think Kadary probably gets a little annoyed with people thinking he doesn’t play through pain, so he’s playing through it, because that [narrative] is not true,” Pitino said.
It sounded like a challenge to Luis.
2. Smith definitely is back
The 6-foot guard has regained the form that made him so impactful for St. John’s earlier in the season. He shot 7-for-17 and was 3-for-5 from three-point range.
For five weeks, Smith either missed games or played while clearly hampered by a shoulder injury suffered in a Jan. 11 win over Villanova. He declared himself ready to come back last Sunday, had eight points and three assists in the win over then-No. 24 Creighton at the Garden and looked even better against DePaul.
3. An expanding rotation
Yes, several players were unavailable, but Pitino leaned hard on some reserves against the Blue Demons. Ruben Prey is emerging as the seventh man in this rotation. The 6-10 forward played 21 minutes and had four points and eight rebounds. Lefteris Liotopoulos, a 6-4 guard who has seen very little action, was in the game for 12 minutes.
With Brady Dunlap lost for the season to abdominal surgery, Pitino has said the Greek import he calls “Lefty’’ is the team’s best three-point shooter. He didn’t make any threes Wednesday night, but experience in a game like this could yield dividends.
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.
