St. John’s basketball starting lineup nearly solidified entering opening night

The St. John’s basketball starting lineup is nearly set entering the season opener. 

There are about 24 hours left until Rick Pitino and the St. John’s basketball team take the court to usher in its new era but there are still some questions as to who will be in the starting lineup for the Red Storm.

The expected players of Daniss Jenkins, Chris Ledlum, and Joel Soriano will be out there but a few players returning from injury are making Pitino look deeper into his bench.

UConn transfer Nahiem Allyene will start in place of Jordan Dingle on Tuesday night, according to the Hall of Famer, after Dingle return to practice for the first time in weeks.

The Penn transfer had been dealing with a shoulder ailment that kept him out of both exhibition games but Pitino said the NCAA’s returning leading scorer is physically fully healthy but not completely in basketball shape.

ALSO READ: Posh Alexander embracing transfer to Butler

Dingle will play against Stony Brook but expect to see him on a minutes restriction as the game progresses.

RJ Luis (hand) will be the only player unavailable for the Red Storm.

Biggest question in St. John’s basketball starting lineup

The biggest question in the starting lineup is who will play small forward and Rick Pitino has narrowed his options down to two players, Glenn Taylor Jr. or Sean Conway.

Taylor Jr., an Oregon State transfer, started against Rutgers but came off the bench against Pace to only play eight minutes as Pitino was trying to get a look at some of his younger players in the team’s final preseason matchup.

ALSO READ: Lou Carnesecca calls Rick Pitino a ‘Top-5 coach’

Conway, a transfer from VMI, did not start either exhibition.

Assuming both players are healthy, it seems likely that Taylor Jr. would be on the court to start the game for the Red Storm and play a bulk of the minutes at the small forward position.

St. John’s and Stony Brook will tipoff at 7:00p.m. ET (FS1) from Carnesecca Arena.