The entire St. John’s basketball program held its breath after Deivon Smith collided with Villanova guard Wooga Poplar with 2:02 remaining in the first half on Saturday night and immediately went to the ground in pain.
Smith held his right shoulder from the time of the collision until he was helped back to the locker room by the Red Storm training staff.
X-Rays were negative at halftime and Smith emerged back to the Red Storm bench with his shoulder heavily wrapped and immobilized in a brace. It looked bleak for Smith, but the Utah guard returned to the game with 11:17 left in the second half as the Wildcats were amid a run that put them up by three, 48-45.
Smith played 2:48 before asking to come out of the game. He has very little range of motion in his arm, not attempting a shot following his injury. Prior to the collision, he was St. John’s leading scorer with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including three made 3-pointers.
“Knowing what kind of player he is and how much he means to the team, just to have him hurting it kind of hurt all of us,” Simeon Wilcher said following the Red Storm’s 80-68 victory.
Wilcher played all but the final 31 seconds of the second half after Smith’s injury and delivered two of the biggest plays of the game with a layup off a steal on Eric Dixon and a midrange jump shot that pushed the Red Storm lead back to three, 68-65, with 2:05 remaining.
“It just shows what type of chemistry we have,” RJ Luis explained of how the team rallied despite missing Smith. “One goes down, the next man has to step up.”
“You saw him come back with his shoulder wrapped up so that just shows how much heart he has too, and he was trying to give us something having that injury.”
Rick Pitino, however, provided a positive update to Red Storm fans regarding Smith’s status.
“I think it may have popped out, but it popped back in. It’s not dislocated,” he said.
“Right now, it’s very sore from popping out, popping back in. He won’t be out a long time, could miss Georgetown, but I don’t think it’ll be after that.”
St. John’s (14-3, 5-1 Big East) has a quick turnaround this week hosting the Hoyas (12-4, 3-2 Big East) on Tuesday night (7:30 p.m. ET, Peacock) before traveling to New Jersey to face Seton Hall on Saturday evening.