Three takeaways from St. John's vs. Xavier
St. John's guard Kadary Richmond against Xavier at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
On Wednesday night, 20th-ranked St. John’s reclaimed sole possession of first place in the Big East with a gritty 79-71 overtime victory over surging Xavier at the Garden. It was the Red Storm’s sixth straight win and 12th in their last 13 games.
With the game on the line, St. John’s (17-3, 8-1 Big East) rose to the occasion on defense and ended a three-game winning streak by the Musketeers (12-8, 4-5) by holding them to 19 points in the last 20 minutes. Afterward, Zuby Ejiofor credited the victory to “our will to win.”
Here are three takeaways from the triumph:
1. Kadary Richmond is on the rise
With Deivon Smith sidelined by a right shoulder sprain, Richmond turned in perhaps his best game in a Red Storm uniform. He played 44 minutes, scored a season-best 19 points, shot 9-for-17, added seven rebounds, five assists and three steals and didn’t have a turnover.
“I try to approach every game the same, but tonight I feel like I was more aggressive and took what the defense gave me, and my teammates kept giving me confidence,” Richmond said. “This was one of my best games in the St. John’s uniform.”
“I liked his stamina,” said coach Rick Pitino, who has called Richmond’s fitness a reason for a sluggish start to the season. “Kadary was great the entire night without a turnover [and] playing that many minutes.”
2. Smith has a chance to heal
St. John’s has six days off until Tuesday’s game at Georgetown, and no one may benefit more than Smith, who suffered what’s been termed a “shoulder sprain” during a collision in the Jan. 11 win over Villanova. He missed the Jan. 14 home win over Georgetown and was limited in 17 minutes in Saturday’s win over Seton Hall, during which he said he felt targeted for rough play.
He’s had a second cortisone injection, and the time off gives him a shot to be back to face the Hoyas. St. John’s, good as it’s been without him, is a better team that plays faster and runs the floor better with him in the lineup.
3. The St. John’s fans delivered a boost again
Pitino said Monday that he wanted to see 15,000 to 17,000 fans at the Garden for what he termed “the biggest game of the year” and that he would be using Wednesday’s game as a measuring stick. “I’m going to see what the Johnnies fan support is all about with this game,” he said.
The attendance was 14,545. Though they were mostly quiet for a long time, the fans came to life when St. John’s was rallying from 16 points down and put wind at its back as it completed the comeback.
“It’s five degrees out there, but we’ve got it rolling right now,” Pitino said. “This is New York — it’s all about winning. In New York, if you win, [fans] show up, and we know that. And we’re winning right now. We’re bringing St. John’s back to where it needs to be . . . We really, really want to get St. John’s back where it belongs, and we just keep winning and winning and that’ll take care of itself.”
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.
