St. John’s basketball: Rick Pitino provides injury updates on trio of players

St. John’s basketball head coach Rick Pitino updated the team’s injuries. 

Injuries have struck the St. John’s basketball team after three players — Cruz Davis, RJ Luis, and Jordan Dingle — did not suit up in its double overtime exhibition victory against Rutgers and head coach Rick Pitino provided more insights on when those players could return.

It was expected that Davis and Luis would not play against the Scarlet Knights after both suffered broken hands earlier in the preseason but Dingle was the one surprise absence with an ailing left shoulder.

Many thought that it was not a serious injury and the Penn transfer would soon return to the court but now Pitino isn’t putting any timeline on his return.

“I don’t know,” the Hall of Famer said if he expects Dingle to return to practice this week.

“Jordan [Dingle] has been hurt quite a bit. He was out all summer, then he had another injury, and now he has another injury.”

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The 6-foot-3 guard was named as the Ivy League Player of the Year a season ago after averaging 23.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game and is expected to be the starting shooting guard for the Red Storm when he returns to the floor.

UConn transfer Nahiem Alleyne, who hit the buzzer beating 3-point to send the scrimmage against Rutgers into double overtime, will take Dingle’s place in the starting lineup.

“It’s not a real serious injury,” Pitino added. “It’s a shoulder injury. We will air on the side of caution, even if he was ready to come back this week I probably wouldn’t play him against Pace [in an exhibition] on Sunday.”

St. John’s basketball awaiting further prognosis on broken hands

RJ Luis, a UMass transfer and projected starter, has already been out for almost a month after suffering a broken hand in the team’s open practice on October 1 and St. John’s is expecting another update from the doctors on his status very soon.

“RJ is going to get X-Rayed [Wednesday] and then in another two weeks I expect him to be fine,” Pitino said.

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Luis’ broken hand is thought to be more severe than Cruz Davis’ and both players were thought to return at some point around the Charleston Classic.

“Cruz will be back in another week on the court,” Pitino explained. “We will put him through player development sessions with no contact and he should be ready by the first game.”

St. John’s opens the season on Tuesday, November 7 against Stony Brook (7:00p.m. ET, FS1).