St. John’s basketball looking to give more minutes to 4-star freshman

The St. John’s basketball team is looking to give more minutes to freshman Simeon Wilcher.

The highest ranked recruit on the St. John’s basketball team has not played as much as head coach Rick Pitino would like and the Hall of Famer is looking to change that soon.

Simeon Wilcher, a 4-star recruit that was originally committed to North Carolina, has shown flashes through three games for the Red Storm but the consistent playing time has not been there for the Plainfield, New Jersey native.

Wilcher played nine minutes in St. John’s first two games against Stony Brook and Michigan and was limited to just three minutes in Thursday’s victory over North Texas, although he positively contributed to the 53-52 victory in the brief time he was on the floor with three points and an assist.

“I want to play Sim [Wilcher] more,” Pitino said after his team’s most recent victory.

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The Hall of Famer wants his youngster to be the point guard and move Daniss Jenkins, who has almost played exclusively point guard, to the shooting guard position.

“This wasn’t Sim’s type of game,” Pitino explained. “This game was all based on defense, switching, and making calls — things that are way over his head right now from a mental standpoint.”

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Simeon Wilcher scored three points against the Seawolves and two points against the Wolverines but is 3-for-4 on field goal attempts this season through three games.

The 6-foot-4 guard was the No. 34 ranked player in the Class of 2023, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.

St. John’s other freshman, Brady Dunlap, did not play against North Texas as Pitino has mentioned that his body is not ready for the rigors of the college game at the moment.

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“I have to get [Wilcher] a lot more minutes, and I’m going to. He’s going to play a lot more in the next game.”

“We have to get Sim at least 15 of 16 minutes per game.”

St. John’s will play either LSU or Dayton in the semifinal of the Charleston Classic on Friday at 2:00p.m. EST (ESPN2).