Bryce Hopkins has the most weight to carry on the St. John’s basketball team.
His much-maligned exit from Providence has followed him throughout the season on social media among Big East fans but he has no regrets about how things unfolded.
“I came here to be on a winning team,” he said on Monday at a team NIL event at Applebee’s in Fresh Meadows.
“I came here to play in bigger games and be on a bigger stage and I feel like I did that.”
Hopkins was named to the All-Big East Second Team after finishing the regular season with 13.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.1 steals per game on 44.1-percent shooting. It was the first time he gathered All-Big East honors since his sophomore season with the Friars.
He helped lead St. John’s to an outright Big East regular season championship, which was the second straight title for the program.
Last year, he returned from his ACL tear for three games and suffered a bone bruise in his surgically repaired knee in a matchup against DePaul which would have kept him out for at least another three weeks.
“I feel like I had to make a better decision,” he said about the situation. “I wanted another year to prove myself and feel like I could give myself a good chance to make the NBA.”
Now, his first postseason game with the Red Storm will be against Providence in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament, something he expected given how the first two games against his former team went.
“I feel like it’s going to be very aggressive, high emotions all over the place, and they’re going to come with their best shot again,” he added on Monday.
“I’m sure it’s going to be a tough, physical game again, that’s what the coach likes over there, and whatever the case may be we’re going to be ready for it.”
St. John’s is gunning for its second straight Big East Tournament title, which has never been done in program history, and could climb as high as a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament with a productive week in Manhattan.
“We have a decent seed it’s looking like in March Madness as long as we keep winning, so I’m just looking forward to playing in those bigger games and being in March Madness for sure.”
Bryce Hopkins will get his wish early in the postseason in a game with massive stakes for St. John’s and its future.