Shorthanded St. John’s men’s basketball smacks DePaul in 82-58 win

Despite R.J. Luis missing action due to a groin injury, the Johnnies cruised to a comfortable road win in Chicago

Without leading scorer R.J. Luis, backup big Vince Iwuchukwu, and one of the only three-point threats on the team in Jaiden Glover, No. 10 St. John’s looked ripe for a letdown performance heading into a sleepy late-night road game against DePaul. It appeared the Johnnies were, in fact, barreling towards an uncomfortably close game when the Blue Demons took advantage of spotty Red Storm defense on an 8-0 run and tied the game at 20-20 with eight minutes remaining in the first half.

DePaul’s early push was nothing more than a mirage. St. John’s cruised into halftime on a 21-5 run, then carried that momentum to finish off an 82-58 blowout victory at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena on Wednesday night to match their highest Big East win total since the 1985-86 season.

St. John’s expectedly smothered DePaul with their physicality and tireless defense, out-rebounding the Blue Demons by 16 and forcing them to shoot 32.7 percent. What wasn’t expected was that the Johnnies had an uncharacteristically great three-point shooting night as they made nine of their 21 attempts from deep for a 42.9% clip, their best in a Big East game this season.

Sadiku Ibine Ayo stepped up for the absent R.J. Luis, who missed Wednesday’s game with a groin injury and scored a career-high 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting and 3-of-5 from three in his first start of his St. John’s career.

Deivon Smith scored in bunches in his first start since injuring his shoulder versus Villanova on January 11, racking up a team-high 18 points (7-of-17, 3-of-5 from three) to go along with five assists and four rebounds. The highlight of his night came with 10:47 remaining in the second half when he dropped C.J. Gunn with a filthy hesitation dribble move, then stepped back and buried a high-arching three, falling down while drawing the foul by Jacob Meyer.

Kadary Richmond had another Kadary-esque stat line, putting up 17 points on 14 shot attempts, nine rebounds, and five assists. Zuby Ejiofor and Ruben Prey commandeered the glass, with Ejiofor posting 13 points and nine rebounds and Prey setting a new career-high with eight rebounds (five offensive) off the bench.

The No. 10 St. John’s men’s basketball team (23-4, 14-2 Big East) will return to Madison Square Garden and face the UConn Huskies (18-8, 10-5 Big East) on Sunday, February 23, which tips off at noon Eastern and will be televised on FOX.