There was a chance the St. John’s basketball team would play on national television on Saturday night when they travel to rival Seton Hall, but the NFL had other ideas.
The Red Storm (15-3, 6-1 Big East) and Pirates (6-11, 1-5 Big East) will tipoff at 8:00 p.m. ET on FoxSports1 from the Prudential Center after the NFL slated its NFC Divisional Round matchup between the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders on FOX with an 8:00 p.m. ET kickoff.
When the schedule was released, this matchup would have been on FOX if the network’s NFL Playoff game had been slotted at a different time.
Seton Hall’s struggles this season had no impact in FOX’s or the NFL’s decision.
St. John’s will enter New Jersey riding a four-game winning streak but more importantly boasts Kadary Richmond on its roster, a Seton Hall transfer.
It’ll be the first time Richmond plays his old school after transferring to Queens this offseason.
The Brooklyn native joined the Pirates after spending his freshman season at Syracuse. Richmond played three seasons at Seton Hall, culminating his tenure in South Orange with an All-Big East First Team selection and NIT Championship in April.
There has been an adjustment period for Kadary Richmond getting acclimated to Rick Pitino’s system but has really turned a corner over the last four games, helping the Red Storm pick up key victories over Xavier, Butler, Villanova, and Georgetown.
Richmond is posting 10.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game this season.
He’s likely to be greeted unkindly by the Seton Hall fans that fill the Prudential Center on Saturday night, but that’s par for the course in this era of player movement.
The more important detail would be if St. John’s could avoid a metrics killing loss against the Pirates and continue its trajectory to the NCAA Tournament as well as a top seed in the Big East Tournament.