The St. John’s basketball team could be down a key player when it takes the court on Wednesday night (6:00 p.m. ET, FS1) against Villanova (14-10, 7-6 Big East) after Rick Pitino revealed on Monday night that Deivon Smith suffered a neck injury.
“Deivon had a little tweak of his neck,” Pitino said at the premier of the ViceTV documentary Pitino: Red Storm Rising.
Smith suffered the injury in practice on Sunday and didn’t practice on Monday or Tuesday but has not officially been ruled out for its matchup against the Wildcats.
Rick Pitino compared the injury to a pinched nerve in his neck.
Pitino was unsure if there was any correlation to this current injury and the shoulder sprain he suffered against Villanova on January 11, which forced Smith to miss three of the team’s next four games.
Since returning from the injury Smith has struggled shooting, making 5-of-34 attempts from the field and 2-of-10 from 3-point range. However, his 4-point play in the first half of St. John’s victory against then No. 19 UConn was a key moment in the 14-point turnaround.
Sophomore guard Simeon Wilcher has started for Deivon Smith since suffering his shoulder injury and remained in the starting lineup despite the Utah transfer becoming available again.
Kadary Richmond has also seen a major uptick in his production since Smith’s injury as the Red Storm (21-3, 12-1 Big East) have rattled off ten straight victories to climb to No. 9 in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll.
Deivon Smith shined prior to his last first half injury against Villanova, scoring 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the 80-68 Red Storm victory and his quickness and defensive versatility would be missed by the Johnnies if he is unable to play.
St. John’s has not proven to be a deep team this season, but Rick Pitino might have to use more of freshman guard Jaiden Glover, who is only averaging 6.6 minutes per game and has played a total of seven minutes in the last three games.