Saturday night is a major moment in the rivalry between the St. John’s basketball team and Seton Hall. While what will take place inside the Prudential Center is becoming more popular in college basketball, it’s still rare on this scale.
Kadary Richmond, the star of Seton Hall for three seasons, will be returning to Newark as a member of the Red Storm for the first time.
It’s not the first time that a player has battled their former team after transferring within the Big East and while many of those instances involved ex-Johnnies, the reaction from the crowd will be much different than what Richmond will get.
St. John’s fans cheered Posh Alexander last season when he returned to Carnesecca Arena as a member of the Butler Bulldogs and there was a very little reception when Dylan Addae-Wusu was introduced for Seton Hall at UBS Arena when the Pirates played the Storm.
Granted, the circumstances were much different with the Red Storm entering an era with Rick Pitino on the sidelines while Richmond jumped ship to come to Queens and is getting a much more significant NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) package than he had at Seton Hall.
Still, St. John’s (15-3, 6-1 Big East) is trying to keep its focus on the court rather than reception Richmond will get from the Pirate fans, at least that is what Pitino is saying publicly.
“He told us about it,” Aaron Scott said on Friday afternoon of Rick Pitino’s message about Richmond’s return during the week. “He just said he has to show them what they are missing.”
Brady Dunlap used the same line to describe Pitino’s message, unprovoked and unknowing that Scott explained the same details.
“He’s just going to go in there and show Seton Hall what they are missing,” he explained.
Pitino denied saying those specific words; “I just told him just play your game and don’t be consumed with anything except playing the way you play.”
Whether that was the Hall of Famer’s message or not will only be known by the players, but there isn’t a better person to brief Kadary Richmond on what he could be getting into than Pitino.
“I have never experienced it when being at Louisville walking into Rupp Arena,” he joked on if he has seen an overly visceral reaction from a crowd at the college level to a player returning to play a team he previously suited up for.
“I can assure you that Kadary will not have the greeting that I got…he’s fully aware that if you go to a rival school when you play them that the fans will get on him but it’s not going to make a difference whether the ball goes in or whether he rebounds or plays defense.”
Richmond has turned a corner recently for St. John’s, coming up with multiple key plays during each victory of its four-game winning streak. More will be asked of him against Seton Hall (6-11, 1-5 Big East) as St. John’s prepares to play without his backcourt mate Deivon Smith, who is still nursing a bruised shoulder.
“I think being booed is something he can handle,” Pitino added. “He grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, so I think he can handle being booed. He’s not going to cry,”
St. John’s did not make Richmond available to meet the media prior to the game nor did Seton Hall with head coach Shaheen Holloway.
“Slightly,” Richmond said on Tuesday after St. John’s win against Georgetown on if there was any added emotion returning to his old stomping grounds.
“But it’s just another basketball game. I’m sure they’re going to have a good crowd.”
Tipoff is at 8:00 p.m. ET (FS1).