Rick Pitino continued his superiority over the DePaul Blue Demons on Feb. 19 with a 24-point blowout win, his fourth 20-plus point win over DePaul as St. John’s head coach.
Unlike the 89-61 thrashing that the Johnnies handed the Blue Demons earlier this season, St. John’s entered this contest missing a pivotal piece.
Leading scorer and Big East player of the year candidate RJ Luis Jr. was absent from the starting lineup due to a pulled groin. While it is unclear what Luis’ timeline back to the court will look like, Pitino doubts his immediate return.
“I would say RJ is probably going to miss Connecticut with a pulled groin,” Pitino said via Zach Braziller of the New York Post when asked about Luis’ availability.
But even being down a 17.6 points-per-game scorer, the Red Storm prevailed with help from the next man up.
Team captain Sadiku Ibine Ayo earned the starting nod in Luis’ place and turned in his best performance in a St. John’s uniform. Ibine Ayo scored 15 points, about 15 times more than his 1.6-point average and 11 more than his previous season high of four points.
“It’s amazing. Coach is always being hard on me all the time. I think it pays off,” Ibine Ayo said after his career night. “He always tells me, ‘Let the game come to you.’”
The junior forward was a true Swiss Army knife for St. John’s, corralling five rebounds, hitting three three-pointers and playing stellar defense on the other end of the court.
“Sadiku gave us a big lift with RJ out, gave us a tremendous lift. He deserves it,” Pitino said of Ibine Ayo. “He’s the biggest cheerleader on the team for the other guys. He epitomizes everything great about the word team. Sadiku played terrific.”
Aside from Luis, another Red Storm leader battled the same injury. Kadary Richmond was also afflicted with a pulled groin, but fought through the injury to play the Blue Demons where he recorded a well-rounded 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
“If anybody questions his toughness, I can tell you right now, not only the practice, but he’s a physically tough young man,” Pitino said concerning Richmond’s effort.
Deivon Smith, another Johnnie that entered the game with injury concerns, was forced to start amidst the lineup changes. Smith scored 18 points, his highest total in nearly two months, along with four rebounds and five assists.
Smith was crucial in the Red Storm’s 21-5 run that ended the first half as he assisted or scored on 15 of those points. Smith and Richmond played together for much of this run, indicating that the two guards may be a good fit together.
“I think it could be good. Me and him [Smith] running the show, playing off each other,” Richmond said when asked about potential lineups with them together. “We started to mesh well together, playing off each other as a team. So, I feel like that’s what it took to get adjusted to each other.”
Looking forward to the future, St. John’s will face the UConn Huskies on Feb. 23 under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden in one of the last regular season tests for the Red Storm.
Luis’ availability looks uncertain against the Huskies, but the Johnnies may have shown against DePaul the resilience required to win without one of their best players.
