St. John's star Kadary Richmond is 'more injured than any player' in Rick Pitino's career
Yesterday at 06:16 PM
The Cinderella season continued for St. John’s basketball on Sunday with a very convincing 89-75 win over UConn at Madison Square Garden. This victory completed the Red Storm’s season sweep of the two-time defending national champions after they also won on the road earlier this month.
St. John’s didn’t seem like it would have its full crop of players on Sunday following its last game, a hard-fought win over DePaul on Wednesday. RJ Luis Jr. didn’t play in that game and star guard Kadary Richmond was also dealing with an injury, causing Rick Pitino to be cautious about their status for this huge clash against the Huskies. However, both ended up playing and leading the Johnnies to a win.
Richmond has been dealing with a groin injury and Pitino says he could be playing through more than that, via ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.
“Kadary Richmond is more injured than any player I’ve coached right now & he fights through it,” Pitino said after the St. John’s win, per Borzello. “He has double groin pulls, problems all over his anatomy & he played the game & played hard. He needs time off, as much as we can give him, because he’s really hurting.”
The injuries didn’t slow Richmond down in either of the Johnnies’ wins this week. On Wednesday against DePaul, the Seton Hall transfer scored 17 points while adding nine rebounds and five assists. On Sunday, he tied a team-high with 18 points to help lead St. John’s to a win.
Richmond may get the chance to take some time off now, as this St. John’s basketball team is just a game from clinching the Big East regular season title. Pitino’s club has a 2.5-game lead over Creighton with just three games to play, so the Red Storm may have some leeway to rest him if needed.
As it turns out, Pitino himself is even a little bit surprised that Richmond was able to give it a go for St. John’s against UConn, per Adam Zagoria.
“99 percent of the players would not have played tonight. … He was really hurting,” Pitino said.
Richmond doesn’t seem too worried about the injury. He looks like himself on the floor and is confident that he will meet the moment whenever St. John’s needs him to, and he stated as such after the big win when talking to Andy Katz.
Caught up with @BIGEASTMBB veteran Kadary Richmond on what the @StJohnsBBall win over @UConnMBB said about the Red Storm potential and more! For @MarchMadnessMBB: pic.twitter.com/Zld7oZHlG1
— Andy Katz (@TheAndyKatz) February 23, 2025
“I’m ready to go when it’s time,” Richmond said bluntly.
St. John’s will get a chance to all but salt away that regular season conference championship on Wednesday night against Butler. If Pitino and company can keep playing this kind of basketball, they are on track for a top four seed in the NCAA Tournament.
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