Rick Pitino explains decision to change St. John's basketball starting lineup

Rick Pitino hinted at changes in the St. John's basketball starting lineup but nothing to the extent of what he showed on Wednesday night to begin the game against Wagner.

The Hall of Famer mentioned following the season opener against Fordham that he would start Deivon Smith against Quinnipiac in place of RJ Luis as discipline following the junior receiving a technical foul after fouling out of the game and kicking the ball into the stands.

However, Aaron Scott was the one removed from the starting lineup instead of Luis as he dealt with the flu.

Pitino told reporters after the victory over the Bobcats that he was thinking about starting Vince Iwuchukwu over Zuby Ejiofor after the Red Storm captain turned in two subpar performances to begin the season, and he followed through on that.

The biggest change against Wagner was that Kadary Richmond, the prize offseason addition from Seton Hall, did not start. He was replaced by Brady Dunlap, who was introduced next to Simeon Wilcher, Smith, Scott, and Iwuchukwu.

"I know Kadary is ready to play. I know RJ is ready to play. I wanted to see some of the other guys, see some of the lineups," Pitino said after the 66-45 victory against the Seahawks.

"Probably he'll start every single game for the rest of the season but I wanted to experiment a little bit and see certain things because [Wagner] is a slow down team."

Richmond finished with just two points on 1-of-4 shooting in 28 minutes but accumulated seven assists and was a main catalyst in the Red Storm's 18-0 run to put the game away.

"It's just another game, it didn't really matter to me," Richmond said about not starting.

In addition to Kadary Richmond returning to the starting lineup on Sunday against New Mexico (12:00 p.m. ET, FS1), there's also a growing belief that Ejiofor will start too.

"I wasn't happy with the way Vince was playing," Pitino added after Iwuchukwu did not play in the second half. "He was late to everything. Late to block shot, late to the rebound, and that's what I wanted to see because I see that in practice."