A lot changed in 30 hours regarding the playing status of St. John’s basketball guard Deivon Smith for the Red Storm’s matchup on Saturday night against Seton Hall.
While meeting the media on Friday afternoon, Rick Pitino was very pessimistic about Smith’s availability after he said that he had not practiced since suffering the injury a week ago against Villanova and was still experiencing pain when he shoots.
St. John’s was hoping that the cortisone shot he received on Tuesday would help with the pain, but all indications were that he would not play against the Pirates.
As most gathered to watch St. John’s warmup over an hour before tipoff to see Kadary Richmond walk on the Prudential Center floor for the first time as a Johnnie, another surprise came as Smith was dressed and took part in warmups.
The team said that he was testing his shoulder to see if he would be able to play and he checked into the game with 13:42 remaining in the first half after missing St. John’s last game against Georgetown.
“I wasn’t going to play him because he said he couldn’t shoot and he said ‘Coach, I want to go,’” Rick Pitino said after the 79-51 victory.
“He said that to me, and I was surprised,” he continued. “The trainer and I both made the decision he wouldn’t play, but I thought it would be good for him to get out and run because he hasn’t practiced and played in a little bit.”
Smith was still favoring his bruised right shoulder and struggled shooting, missing all six shot attempts but impacted the game in other ways with three rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes.
“It’ll set him up for Wednesday’s game. I wanted him to just get a few minutes tonight, mentally getting over [the injury].”
The shoulder is still bothering Deivon Smith when he shoots, “especially when he misses,” Pitino joked.
St. John’s (16-3, 7-1 Big East) will hope for a healthier version of Smith when hosting a talented Xavier (12-7, 4-4 Big East) backcourt on Wednesday night (7:00 p.m. ET, FS1) inside Madison Square Garden.