The St. John’s basketball team is entering the biggest week the program has seen in nearly 40 years.
A pair of victories over Butler (13-14, 6-10 Big East) and Seton Hall (7-20, 2-14 Big East) will make the Johnnies the outright Big East regular season champions for the first time since 1984-85. However, the Red Storm are hoping that two of its key stars will be ready to go as they continue battling groin issues.
RJ Luis missed St. John’s (24-4, 15-2 Big East) victory over DePaul last week but was able to return on Sunday afternoon against UConn despite not seeing the court for much practice time leading up to the game.
An MRI revealed that he was dealing with a muscle strain and it’s something he must continue to manage and receive treatment on. Luis played 37 minutes and chipped in 14 points to the victory despite shooting 4-of-18 from the field.
“I felt good, I mean the adrenaline helps, a couple of pain killers,” he said on Tuesday morning.
Luis expects to play on Wednesday night (9:00 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network) against the Bulldogs as does Kadary Richmond, who’s injury outlook did not look as positive after St. John’s victory over UConn according to head coach Rick Pitino.
Pitino revealed that Richmond has been dealing with a double groin pull and should not have played against the Huskies despite leading the team with 18 points.
“Doing alright, I’ll be ready,” Richmond said of his status and availability for the week. “It’s not much I can do but just go out there and do what I can to get a win.”
Richmond says that the biggest issues he has with the groin injury, which started back on February 1 against Providence, is the extra treatment getting ready to play before a game and trying to move around after the game when the adrenaline wears off.
An idea has followed Kadary Richmond throughout career, specifically at Seton Hall, that he doesn’t play through pain or injuries and Rick Pitino has dismissed the notion twice within the last week.
Richmond appreciates his coach’s support in the public.
“It just shows you the type of person he is,” he explained. “Because I try to block all that stuff out. I could have spoken on that at my time [at Seton Hall] and at any media availability I had, I could have spoken on that, but I chose not to.”
“It just goes to show the type of person he is and how much he cares about his players.”
The grit that Kadary Richmond has shown while playing injured has rubbed off on other players, specifically RJ Luis.
“I mean you can't really tell [he’s injured],” Luis said. “It’s that part of the season where your body starts getting banged up, you can't really hide from it.”
“He’s definitely hurting and he's in pain. So, just to see him play through it, means I have to do the same thing.”
A win in Indianapolis would give St. John’s its first share of the Big East regular season title since 1991-92.