In the span of 17 days, the St. John’s basketball team will only have played two games since returning from the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.
It’s been a lot of practice time for the No. 22 Johnnies and Rick Pitino has seen enough to make another switch at point guard for Saturday’s game against Iona, moving Ian Jackson into the starting lineup for Dylan Darling.
“Ian Jackson has improved immensely since he’s been here,” Pitino said on Thursday afternoon in Queens.
“I think he’s the same player [he was] at North Carolina. He was taken out of the starting lineup the last seven games for a reason…Probably I would guess it was defensive related, or his assist-turnover numbers weren’t very good.”
Pitino added that Jackson’s turnovers in practice, which averaged around six or seven, have dropped to one or two and he’s focused more on rebounding and defense than just scoring.
It’ll be his first start since opening night against Quinnipiac, coming off the bench in the last seven games.
“I feel like I’ve put in a lot of work from practice to games, just trying to be better every day and grind every day so this is just a tip to that,” Jackson said about his new starting role.
“I feel like I’m getting more comfortable as the days go on. I just feel better. Against Ole Miss, I felt way more comfortable than I did in prior games.”
Ian Jackson is averaging 11.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and 1.8 turnovers per game on 47.1-percent shooting from the field and 35.3-percent from 3-point range.
“When this season’s over, he will be a complete basketball player,” Pitino added. “Ready to move onto whatever pastures he wants to get to.”
St. John’s is also slated to start Oziyah Sellers, Joson Sanon, Bryce Hopkins, and Zuby Ejiofor against the Gaels.