St. John's Deivon Smith finds healthy motivation to get back on floor earlier than expected
Deivon Smith of the St. John's Red Storm controls the ball in the first half against the Creighton Bluejays at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Deivon Smith rose from the St. John’s bench and checked into Sunday’s game against Creighton with 13:24 left in the first half. As he stepped onto the floor with his teammates the sellout crowd of 19,812 at the Garden rose to its feet and roared its approval at his surprising return to the Red Storm rotation, just two days after coach Rick Pitino had ruled him out because of the shoulder injury that had plagued him for five weeks.
“Me checking in [and] getting a standing ovation in the Garden?” Smith said in a Zoom interview Tuesday. “I mean, that’s something I’ll remember forever.”
It was one day earlier that Smith deemed himself fully recovered and told Pitino he was ready to play, and the coach called that “one of the biggest shocks of the year for me.”
Pitino is a master motivator and helping Smith take the last steps to returning may prove significant in getting the Storm to reach their maximum potential.
Smith performed like the player he had been before his shoulder was injured in a collision during the Jan. 11 win over Villanova at the Garden. He had eight points and three assists, ran the offense at a quick pace and made few miscues as St. John’s downed the Bluejays in a 79-73 Big East thriller.
The 6-foot guard said Tuesday he is back for good, and with a plan for the rest of the season.
“I want to win all of them,” he said. “I want to be happy at the end of it, just build some momentum for the [NCAA] tournament. I haven’t played in the tournament or been in a position to win. So I just want to take advantage of each and every opportunity.”
His next opportunity comes Wednesday night in Chicago when No. 10 St. John’s (22-4, 13-2) faces DePaul (11-15, 2-13) at Wintrust Arena.
Smith had to clear mental and physical hurdles to get himself back. Elevating to do that actually started five days earlier when he sat in street clothes while the Storm’s 10-game winning streak was snapped in a two-point loss at Villanova. The rise continued when Pitino said afterward that he could miss many more games.
Before last Friday’s practice, Pitino ruled him out and that’s when Smith reacted.
“When I was ruled out, I texted coach Pitino,” Smith said. “I literally texted him at the last minute, ‘I want an individual workout. When I try to practice, I want to see how it feels.’ And I had a great [workout], had a great practice and from there it kind of built on to the game. I just like the bright lights and Madison Square Garden, so the rest kind of took care of itself.”
“With injuries, sometimes getting over them is a psychological thing, even more so than a physical thing, and Deivon was struggling,” Pitino said in a Tuesday WFAN interview. “He got hit very hard on his shoulder, it’s the same shoulder he had trouble with in the summertime. And I just said to the trainers, ‘Look, we need to shut him down.’ The doctor said the same thing. [But] they [also] said, ‘No, he can play — psychologically he’s not there.’
“Then the next day, he went to a player development session and said ‘Coach, I’m ready to go. This team needs me.’ And I was as shocked as anybody.”
Smith was asked if Pitino’s words after the Villanova game and before the Creighton contest got him to flip the switch.
“It was definitely motivating,” Smith replied. “Just because, for me as a player, watching my team win and have the success we’re having this season and just watching all the fun, I definitely didn’t want to miss out on it.”
“I know I could contribute in multiple ways and watching that Villanova game was super hard, because I know we should have won,” he added. “So I kind of told him I would get through it. I’d get through the mental part and I’m OK with whatever comes with it, whether I have a bad game or a good game, because I’m sure I could do two or three good things that could change the pace of the game or change momentum. So, I just told him I would sacrifice for the team, just to win and be a part of the success.”
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.
