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Kadary Richmond comes up big for #12 St. John’s as Red Storm pick up first signature win

It was a top 12 battle in Madison Square Garden last night, as Marquette and St. John’s met for the right for first place in the Big East standings. The Red Storm got the job done 70-64, as Rick Pitino’s squad put on a defensive clinic. A tightly contested first half between the two teams saw neither lead by more than six for the first 20 minutes, and Marquette in front 31-30 at the intermission.

At the half, Marquette star guard Kam Jones had just two points and three fouls, able to play only 25 minutes in the contest. Even with a standard as high as the Big East, this game was a physical one, and you could see it all over the court. New York’s team shot out of a cannon to start the second half, blitzing Marquette for an 8-0 run and a 38-31 lead it would hold for most of the second half. Marquette would tighten the game back up to within a possession multiple times but couldn’t quite stick together enough of a run.

Foul trouble in both sides continued to mount in this physical contest, as four Red Storm players finished with four fouls and Marquette had David Joplin foul out and three others just one way away from the limit as well.

Finally, with under six minutes to go, Marquette trailed by just two and had the ball with a chance for the lead. Even not having been able to get himself going for most of the game due to foul trouble, Jones stepped up in a huge moment for Marquette. His three with 5:20 to play gave the Golden Eagles a 55-54 lead on the road.

It would last mere seconds though, as Deivon Smith split a pair of free throws on St. John’s next possession, before giving the Red Storm the lead back 30 seconds later. Following Jones’ three pointer, Marquette would fail to convert a field goal for the rest of the game, as St. John’s completely shut down the Golden Eagles defensively. A handful of free throws would fall for Marquette, but nothing that could get Marquette back into the game after Aaron Scott gave St. John’s a seven-point lead with 1:37 to go.

Prided on its defense, Rick Pitino’s squad is now 20-3 after winning 70-64 last night. Another aspect of its game has to be its offensive rebounding ability, outrebounding Marquette 50-28 overall, and 21-5 on the offensive glass. Now inside the top 15 at KenPom in offensive rebounding percentage, St. John’s is big, physical, and crashes the glass at any and every opportunity. Zuby Ejiofor led St. John’s with 13 rebounds, matching his point total of 13 for his seventh double-double of the season. Proving to be a full team effort on the glass, Kadary Richmond would finish with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists, while RJ Luis Jr. finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds, four steals, and three blocks.

For Richmond, it maybe wasn’t the start to life he expected at St. John’s, but the Seton Hall transfer has found himself over the last week. Tonight’s near triple-double backs up his 24-8-8 performance against Providence on Saturday, and if he is anywhere near this level for the rest of the season, St. John’s is truly dangerous in March. Richmond can become the leader of this team when at his best, the guy that is the reason St. John’s is one of the quickest 15 teams offensively but hold opponents to one of the 50 slowest average possession lengths in the country. The break leader and a stud defender, when Richmond is in takeover mode, there’s not many people that can stop him or get past him.

Nothing to take away from what Luis has done either though, the guy who has really stepped up all season long, with St. John’s maybe not getting what it expected from Richmond early on. Averaging 17.4 ppg and 6.8 rpg on the season, Luis has become St. John’s #1 scorer and Pitino’s go-to guy, having logged 40 minutes last night after logging 38 in Saturday’s win over Providence.

The only knock to St. John’s at this point of the season was its lack of a resume – or any quality win for that matter, but knocking off 11th ranked Marquette is a great start. St. John’s will continue its tough stretch of Big East play on Friday night when it visits UConn, and games against Villanova, Creighton, UConn (again), and Marquette (again) still loom.

Other Things to Note:

• 31 points for Braden Smith as #7 Purdue gets past Iowa 90-81 on the road
• Eric Dailey Jr. scores the winner as UCLA stuns #9 Michigan State 63-61
• #13 Texas Tech wins seventh straight, takes down Baylor 73-59 at home
• #25 Ole Miss slices through Kentucky to win 98-84 with 24 points from Matthew Murrell
• #15 Missouri, #4 Tennessee meet in Knoxville for pivotal clash in the SEC (7:00 ET, SECN)