St. John's overwhelms DePaul en route to fourth win in row in Big East opener
St. John's guard Simeon Wilcher shoots for a basket over DePaul guard Conor Enright in the first half of a Big East men's basketball game at Carnesecca Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
They kept making the extra passes on offense. They left few openings to give up three-point shots. And their effort was relentless. The St. John’s players met the start of conference play with a performance against DePaul that showed it’s going to be ready to meet the big moments this season.
The Red Storm was strong before halftime and overpowering after the break as it blew past the much-improved Blue Demons for an 89-61 Big East win on Tuesday night before a sellout crowd of 5,602 at Carnesecca Arena.
St. John’s (9-2, 1-0) won its fourth straight game and fourth straight conference opener.
The Red Storm got strong performances from all over. RJ Luis Jr. had 19 points on 7-for11 shooting, Kadary Richmond scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds, Simeon Wilcher had 16 points on 7-for-7 shooting and Zuby Ejiofor had 12 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots for St. John’s.
But the biggest difference maker was arguably point guard Deivon Smith, who seemed to be central in everything. He not only accelerated the pace of the game with his speed, but he also made winning plays. He finished with nine points, eight assists, six rebounds and five steals.
Layden Blocker scored 17 points for the Blue Demons (8-2, 0-2).
St. John's turned an 11-point halftime lead into a complete rout in the first 9:27 of the second half. It outscored DePaul 30-8 and in that stretch the Demons were 2-for-10 with eight turnovers. The Storm, meanwhile was 13-for-17 from the floor. Richmond had 11 of his points, Wilcher had six of his and Luis had five. Ejiofor capped it with a nifty inside more for a reverse layup and a 70-37 lead with 10:33 to play.
For the game St. John’s shot 55% from the floor, forced 20 turnovers and had a 41-29 edge rebounding. It held the Demons to 6-for-20 shooting on the three-point line.
The Red Storm haven’t played many good first halves this season, but this was one. St. John’s was very good at moving the ball, getting baskets in transition and defending the three-point line against a Blue Demons team that was averaging more than a dozen treys per game.
It held a 40-29 lead at the break, the second time it had pushed the margin to 11.
Moving Deivon Smith into the starting lineup helped St. John’s on both ends. The 6-foot guard made a pair of steals and turned up the pace of the game to produce fast break points.
Coach Rick Pitino expressed concern that his team had been poor at defending the three, but the Storm was quick to getting to shooters. DePaul was taking more than 30 three-pointers per game coming into the contest and managed to squeeze off only eight in the first 20 minutes.
St. John’s defense held DePaul without a field goal (0-for-6) for 3:29 and pulled away from a tight game to take a 25-16 lead on a pair of Luis free throws with 8:07 in the half. Smith found Luis in transition for a layup and a 38-27 lead with 1:39 in the half. And though DePaul would answer with a Layden Blocker dunk, St. John’s had a great final possession before halftime.
It started with a Zuby Ejiofor strip and then Smith took the Storm on a fast break and found Luis for an alley-oop dunk that brought the crowd to its feet.
St. John’s was also strong on the boards in the first 20 minutes, holding a 21-12 rebounding edge and turning nine offensive rebounds into eight points.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
