Even on an off night, St. John’s demonstrated what it’s capable of to the rest of the Big East Conference.
Next, Rick Pitino and the Red Storm make the short trip over the river to face Seton Hall on Saturday night in Newark, N.J.
St. John’s (15-3, 6-1 Big East) has won four straight games and 10 of 11. The Red Storm rank second among Big East teams in scoring (80.7 points per game), scoring defense (66.9 ppg allowed) and scoring margin (13.8 per game) while leading the league in rebounding margin (plus-7.0).
Their offense wasn’t clicking Tuesday during a home game against Georgetown, shooting just 34.8 percent, but they held the Hoyas to 21 points in the second half and came back from down 15 to win 63-58.
“When you don’t have a great night, you come back and win, it tells you who you are and what you’re all about,” Pitino told Peacock after the game. “And these guys are about winning, and that’s all that counts.”
In his second year coaching the program, Pitino has St. John’s in position to make its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019. The Red Storm lean on top scorer RJ Luis Jr. (17.5 ppg), who had 19 points against Georgetown and poured in 30 the previous game against Villanova.
The biggest subplot to the Saturday game is the return of Kadary Richmond to his former school. Richmond had top billing at Seton Hall last year and guided the Pirates to the NIT title, but then he transferred in-conference to St. John’s, where the guard has averaged 10.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.
Seton Hall (6-11, 1-5) has floundered without a star player like Richmond in the fold. The Pirates’ only Big East win came against league doormat DePaul and required overtime. Their suddenly leaky defense helped Butler win its first Big East game of the season, 82-77 on Wednesday in Indianapolis.
“It’s super frustrating to coach this team, man, because we’re not too far off,” Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said in a postgame radio interview. “… Some guys (are) just playing for stats, some guys are just playing to play, they’re not defending. I got a guy that — I’m not saying no names, but he hasn’t defended in three games, three games, and that’s not his character.”
Isaiah Coleman leads the Pirates with an average of 15.4 points per game. Dylan Addae-Wusu, in his second season at Seton Hall after transferring from St. John’s, missed the Butler game with a foot injury. His status for Saturday was unknown.
–Field Level Media
