Beating DePaul was expected for St. John’s, even with leading scorer RJ Luis Jr. sidelined for the first time this season due to a groin injury.
On Sunday, the 10th-ranked Red Storm face one of their biggest tests of the season when they oppose UConn — and having Luis available likely will be much more critical for the game at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Luis had not been ruled out for the game, and St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said Friday said the decision was up to Luis as the Red Storm attempt to complete a season sweep of the Huskies for the first time since 1999-2000.
Luis, a Big East Player of the Candidate, tops the Red Storm (23-4, 14-2 Big East) with 17.6 points per game, a figure that ranks fourth in the conference.
He scored 23 points in the Red Storm’s win over Creighton on Feb. 16 but was replaced in the starting lineup by Sadiku Ibine Ayo three days later. Ibine Ayo scored a career-high 15 points as St. John’s cruised to an 82-58 win over the Blue Demons. Ibine Ayo would draw the start again if Luis remains out.
“Everything takes time. We’re starting to mesh well together, playing off each other,” St. John’s senior guard Kadary Richmond said. “That’s what it took, some time to get adjusted to each other.”
Devion Smith joined Ibine Ayo in moving from the bench to the starting lineup against DePaul, and he led the Red Storm with 18 points, his second-highest total of the season. Smith had been dealing with a neck injury that Pitino thought was going to sideline the guard indefinitely.
Richmond, who added 17 points and nine rebounds, is averaging 17.8 points and 8.2 rebounds in his past six games, though Pitino said the guard played through the same injury as Luis.
The Huskies (18-8, 10-5) were handed a 68-62 home loss by St. John’s on Feb. 7 after they blew an early 14-point lead. Luis capped a 21-point outing by hitting the clinching jumper with 11 seconds remaining.
UConn is 6-5 since winning its first four Big East games, though it owns road wins over then-No. 9 Marquette and then-No. 24 Creighton in that span. The Huskies were held to 70 points or fewer in each of the past four games, most recently being forced to gut out a 66-59 win over Villanova in Hartford on Tuesday.
Liam McNeeley scored 16 of his 20 points after halftime against the Wildcats, including 11 points in the game-ending 27-6 run. McNeeley missed eight games with a high ankle sprain and is averaging 21.8 points in four games since returning, including an 18-point outing against St. John’s and a 38-point showing at Creighton.
UConn’s Tarris Reed Jr. added 13 off the bench against Villanova after scoring a combined three points the previous two games. The Huskies won despite a quiet showing from Alex Karaban (six points), who is 6 of 47 from 3-point range in his past nine games.
UConn got past Villanova after taking a disappointing 69-68 overtime loss at Seton Hall on Feb. 15 when it blew a seven-point lead in the final 36 seconds of regulation.
“The season was hanging in the balance for us (against Villanova),” Huskies coach Dan Hurley said. “If we lost this game, going to play St. John’s in the Garden over the weekend, this is definitely going to galvanize us. With having some high-end wins, and then having some really bad low floor moments, this team’s gotta find a way to finish strong, go into the Big East tournament with great momentum.”
–Field Level Media
