St. John's basketball dominates Fordham behind stellar performance from breakout star

There is a lot of hype around the St. John's basketball team this season and one of the biggest reasons is sophomore Simeon Wilcher.

Rick Pitino has referred to him as one of the most consistent players throughout offseason workouts and it showed on Monday night in a 92-60 season opening victory over Fordham (0-1).

Wilcher finished with 17 points, three rebounds, and two steals in 26 minutes.

The game has slowed down for him, all the work he put in the summer paid off and he hopes it's only the beginning of what will come during the year.

"A lot of hours [in the gym]," Wilcher said of the rise in confidence entering his sophomore season.

"Sometimes I do struggle with getting in my head because of a missed shot but Coach [Pitino] always tells me I can't do that and look forward to the next shot."

There weren't many missed shots for the New Jersey native on this night as he made 7-of-9 attempts and was equally as efficient in both halves. It all started with a layup in the opening minutes and everything flowed from there.

"Last year, I was just thinking too much," Wilcher explained. "You got too much energy, you don't really know what to do with it, so you are a little anxious."

Rick Pitino told Wilcher to simile more, have more fun, and not apply any unneeded stress to himself.

"Just finding that peace between my ears has helped me a lot."

There was also the help of Kadary Richmond, who masterfully turned in a quiet yet impactful St. John's debut, adding 16 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists to the winning effort.

"I don't know what he can't do," Pitino said.

It was nearly a great night for the entire starting five for the Red Storm despite struggles from captain Zuby Ejiofor, finishing with just five points and one rebound, and foul trouble from RJ Luis.

Luis started the game strong by hitting a pair of 3-pointers but quickly found himself on the bench with two fouls. It carried over to the second half as he fouled out with 5:16 to go and punted the basketball into the first row of the student section. He received a technical and officially exited the game with six personal fouls.

"That was probably the one of the biggest shocks I've had in coaching," Pitino said of Luis' actions.

"That is so not RJ. Not indicative of him as a person. So, I was kind of shocked at that, unfortunately he's going to pay the consequences from me for doing that."

St. John's (1-0) will return to action against Quinnipiac (0-1), which was pick to win the MAAC in the league's preseason coaches' poll, on Saturday afternoon (2:00 p.m. ET, FS2).