St. John's surges past Villanova despite loss of Deivon Smith
Aaron Scott of the St. John's Red Storm reacts alongside Jhamir Brickus of the Villanova Wildcats after a three-point basket in the first half at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
St. John’s has found itself in some pretty tough situations this season and still managed to prevail. On Saturday night against Villanova, the Red Storm might have meandered into the tightest one yet.
Point guard Deivon Smith suffered a right shoulder injury in the first half that rendered him essentially unable to play, though he did make a brief try after halftime.
But the more difficult the situation, the more resourceful St. John’s gets. RJ Luis Jr. had 23 of his 30 points after halftime and Simeon Wilcher and Kadary Richmond made big plays late in the contest as the Red Storm pulled out an 80-68 Big East win before a raucous 18,178 at the Garden.
Luis, Richmond and Wilcher scored 25 of St. John’s final 30 points. The Red Storm ended the game on a 14-3 run and went 12-for-16 from the free-throw line in the last 1:46.
Wooga Poplar’s dunk with 2:35 left brought Villanova within 66-65, but that was the Wildcats’ last field goal. They shot 0-for-5 with two turnovers the rest of the way.
“It just goes to show the toughness that we have as a group,” Wilcher said. “Although Deivon went down, and how important he is to the team, we kind of just felt like we had to gather together even more.”
“It just shows what type of chemistry we have,” said Luis, who also had 10 rebounds — nine after halftime — as the Red Storm finished plus-16 on the backboards. “Everybody has each other’s back. One goes down, the next man has to step up.”
St. John’s (14-4, 5-1) has won nine of its last 10 games and very well could be ranked in the AP Top 25 when the poll is released on Monday.
How long the team will be without Smith is unknown, and coach Rick Pitino suggested he probably won’t be available when St. John’s hosts Georgetown on Tuesday. Pitino said Smith’s right shoulder popped out and got popped back in, but he didn’t want to term it a “dislocation.”
Smith was injured in a collision with Poplar while going for a ball on the baseline. Smith, who gave up five inches and 22 pounds, got the worst of it. He lay on the court for more than a minute, his face contorted as he grabbed the shoulder. He went straight to the locker room and returned for the second half in a sling.
St. John’s initially stumbled without him at the wheel, and its five-point halftime lead became a three-point deficit in less than five minutes. While that was unfolding, Pitino subbed out Luis to have a word.
“I took him out early in the second half and said to him, ‘Look, you’re going right back in, but I want to tell you, if you don’t pick this up, we’re not winning this game. So go back in and pick this thing up,’ ” Pitino said. “And he picked it up.”
Luis’ effort could be seen all over the court, getting offensive rebounds, drawing fouls to get to the free-throw line and diving for balls.
“I can’t say enough accolades for RJ tonight because he just took his level of hustle [up],” Pitino said. “When he goes and gets those rebounds and goes to the line . . . he’s getting killed. And for him to dive on the floor like that and do the things he was doing tonight was very impressive.”
So was Smith’s heart. He removed the sling and tried to re-enter the game for a little less than three minutes in the middle of the second half, but he often ran with his right arm dangling at his side and eschewed all contact. The righthanded shooter also opted against taking open three-pointers.
Smith and Aaron Scott each had 12 points and Zuby Ejiofor had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Red Storm.
The score was tied at 61 with 4:19 left before Wilcher twice extended a one-point lead to three in the final 3:30, once on a steal that he took for a dunk and once on a pull-up jumper.
St. John’s went 29-for-39 at the line. Luis was 16-for-20.
Poplar had 22 points and Eric Dixon, who came in leading the nation in scoring average at 25.7, had 18 points and shot 6-for-19 for Villanova (11-6, 4-2).
“It’s scary we’re winning these big games and we’re not shooting [well],” Luis said. “I just feel like the sky’s the limit [if] we keep playing hard.”
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.
