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ICE COLD KADARY: Richmond hits game-winning bucket to lead No. 15 St. John’s past Providence

St. John's graduate student guard Kadary Richmond called game on Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden vs. Providence - Image Credit: St. John's Men's Basketball

NEW YORK, NY — Kadary Richmond was a game-winning player and leader during his time at Seton Hall. An ice cold assassin on both ends of the floor, helping the Pirates capture the 2024 NIT Championship. 

Then came the spring of 2024, a time in which the 6-6 graduate student guard from Brooklyn, New York, transferred to St. John’s. Those following the Red Storm, along with head coach Rick Pitino himself, expected Richmond to carry his winning-attitude, and killer instincts to Queens. 

St. John’s Athletics and head coach Rick Pitino had a plan with this year’s Red Storm squad and it’s coming to fruition in front of all of New York City – Image Credit: Tomasso DeRosa/Latino Sports

Though it took some time for him to get there, struggling in non-conference play and early parts of the Big East season, Richmond has done more than just lead as that game-winning player. He’s steadily become the ice cold assassin St. John’s needed. 

On Saturday afternoon at the World’s Most Famous Arena, as Big East foes, Providence and No. 15th ranked St. John’s were tied up at 66, Richmond with ice coursing through his veins in crunch time, hit the game-winning bucket — a contested mid-range jump shot from the free-throw line with just about three-seconds remaining in regulation. 

As clutch as you could draw it up. 

“He’s a gamer, he loves the moment,” said second-year head coach of Providence, Kim English, on Richmond. “Things he did last season, he’s doing them again.”

Richmond’s last-second heroics put a bow on his masterclass of a game — 24 points (10-14 FG, 2-2 3PT, 2-3 FT), eight assists, eight rebounds, and three steals. 

“I felt very good,” he said of the game-winning bucket. “The coaches, my teammates — they believed in me to give me the ball at the end of the game, and we executed the play, and I made a big-time shot.” 

When Kadary Richmond was asked, ‘how does he view himself as a game winning-player,’ he replied, “I think I affect the game in many ways. If I’m not scoring, I’m rebounding, passing, trying to stop the other team’s best player, trying to affect the game any way I can.” – Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball

What the Red Storm failed to execute on prior to Richmond’s clutch shot was their perimeter defense, surrendering an overall Friar second-half shooting clip of 50% from the field (15-30), and 56.3% from three point land (9-16), which allowed a 19-point lead slip away. 

“We didn’t do our job defensively,” Pitino said, describing the team’s performance during the final stretch. “We have to focus on defense because we could have lost the game today by not doing our defensive job. It’s always better to learn from winning than it is from losing. We learned a valuable lesson.”

For sure a valuable lesson, and one if the Red Storm don’t learn from, will make for an extremely difficult obstacle against their next opponent in No. 9 ranked Marquette this coming Tuesday, February 4th, at Madison Square Garden. 

St. John’s now stands 14-0 at home this season, marking the fifth longest active home winning streak in the country, stat courtesy of St. John’s – Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball

“We just had to win the game,” Pitino explained, as Saturday’s victory did not come pretty, but marked the Johnnies’ eighth win in a row, 19th on the season, and 10th in Big East Play (19-3, 10-1 in BE Play). 

“They will watch the film and learn from it, and we’ll move forward to Marquette.”

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