The St. John’s basketball program does not know when Deivon Smith will return to the court after his most recent injury.
Smith suffered a neck injury during practice on Sunday afternoon and Rick Pitino sounded much more pessimistic about his return to the court following the No. 9 Johnnies (21-4, 12-2 Big East) loss to Villanova (15-10, 8-6 Big East) on Wednesday night than he did on Monday when he disclosed the injury.
“I think he’s done for the [regular] season, in my opinion,” he said after the 73-71 defeat.
“We need to get him healthy, and I think the longer he stays out the better it is for us because he’s not the same player he was a month ago and we got to get him healthy.”
Smith suffered a shoulder sprain on January 11 which caused him to miss three of the next four games before returning on February 1 against Providence. He is 5-of-34 from the field since getting injured.
Pitino compared this injury to a pinched nerve in his neck on Monday.
“He’s probably going to be out for a while,” he added.
Deivon Smith did not practice on Monday or Tuesday but lightly participated in shootaround prior to the game on Wednesday before being ruled out.
Rick Pitino said that he will “definitely” miss St. John’s next game against Creighton on Sunday afternoon (3:00 p.m. ET, FS1) and likely its following game against DePaul. There are six games remaining in the regular season for the Johnnies.
“Need to keep him out and get him healthy…he stays out longer, but he’s legitimately hurt and I think if you bring him back too soon you’re going to lose him for the playoffs.”
St. John’s is 4-1 in games in which Deivon Smith has not played.
“No question,” Pitino said when asked if he expected Smith back for the postseason. “We have to get him healthy, so I don’t expect him to come back soon.”