Bryce Hopkins joined the St. John’s basketball team with high expectations but now he sits at a crossroads ahead of the most important game of the season for the No. 22 Johnnies.
Does he want to be a good player or a great player?
It’s a conversation Rick Pitino had with him on Thursday morning after a disappointing showing in the Red Storm’s victory over DePaul on Tuesday night.
“Every single player has blemishes and warts,” Pitino explained.
“Bryce can be a Top 10 player in the country if he changes his personality, if he becomes an alpha dog. Now, it’s tough. It really is tough. We all know we have our personalities. Could we totally change between the lines?”
“If he wants to become a Top 10, Top 15, Top 20 player in the country, he totally has to do a makeover of his personality because it would make him so much better. He’s got to develop Zuby [Ejiofor’s] personality on the court.”
Bryce Hopkins has been held to single digit scoring in three of St. John’s last four games and only took four shots against the Blue Demons. However, it was not his scoring that was the biggest surprise rather it was failing to record a rebound for the first time this season.
Hopkins had at least three rebounds in every prior game for St. John’s, and the lackluster play nearly got him pulled from the starting lineup, but Rick Pitino is not ready to make that move just yet.
“If I didn’t love him and believe in him, I would’ve changed him out of the starting lineup after that performance, no question about it,” Pitino explained about the Providence transfer.
“But because I love him and believe in him wholeheartedly – 100 percent — I talked to him, and I know he’ll bring it in the Kentucky game.”
Hopkins began his career at Kentucky in 2021-22, playing 28 games under John Calipari, averaging 2.1 points before transferring to Providence.
His 4.5 rebounds per game this season are a career worst since his freshman season in which he didn’t see much time, including the two seasons he had cut short due to injury in which he had 8.6 and 7.7 rebounds per contest.
“That’s exactly what I told him…nothing changes if nothing changes. ‘Bryce, you’re going to have a great game one night and then a bad game like you did the other night if you don’t change your personality.’ So, Dillon Mitchell had a bad offensive night, but he still got nine rebounds, he still got three steals.”
Hopkins’ teammates are confident that he will receive the message.
“If there’s anybody that’s going to bring a change in the personality of a player, it’s Coach Pitino,” Zuby Ejiofor explained. “He does a really great job of pushing guys to their limits, obviously.”
“We all know how talented Bryce Hopkins is and we see each and every night what he brings to the team…so, whatever Coach Pitino expects out of him, I have no doubt that he’s going to do that.”
St. John’s will be hoping to get the version of the former First Team All-Big East member that showed up for the first two games in Las Vegas on Saturday (12:30 p.m. ET, CBS) against Kentucky – averaging 21.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.0 steal per game.