NEW YORK, NY — In the windy city of Chicago Wednesday night, the No. 10 ranked St. John’s Red Storm rolled past the DePaul Blue Demons, 82-58, to improve to an overall record of 23-4 on the year and 14-2 clip in Big East Conference play — matching the program’s largest number of wins in league play since the 1998-1999 season.
Despite Dominican-Ecuadorian guard/forward RJ Luis Jr. listed as a no-go due to an apparent groin injury, the team’s leading-scorer, averaging 17.6 points per game this season, the Red Storm handled their business at WinTrust Arena, blowing the Blue Demons out of the building.
Throughout the course of the 40-minute beatdown, one in which Rick Pitino and St. John’s coaching staff needed their supporting cast to put in a larger workload than usual — being shorthanded from a body standpoint — Sadiku Ibine Ayo stepped up by recording 15 points (a career-high), five rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Sadiku Ibine Ayo took advantage of the opportunity given to him on Wednesday night @ DePaul, scoring 15 points, He entered Wednesday’s game with 20 points recorded on the season – Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball
The junior forward of Asabi-Kumasi, Ghana, taking advantage of the opportunity given to him, entered Wednesday with 20 total points scored on the 2024-2025 campaign while seeing 5.3 minutes of action per game across 20 contests.
“Sadiku gave us a big lift with RJ (Luis Jr.) out, gave us a tremendous lift,” Pitino emphasized in the postgame. “He deserves it. He’s the biggest cheerleader on the team for the other guys.”
“He epitomizes everything great about the word team.”
A key bench piece to the Red Storm: junior forward Sadiku Ibine Ayo began his collegiate career at Iona with Rick Pitino and followed the legendary head coach to St. John’s in 2023 – Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball
Ibine Ayo, a transfer of Iona University, following Pitino to Queens, marked a new-career high in scoring during the first half of action, dropping 13 points in the opening frame. He tacked on two additional points in the second half to finish with 15.
“It’s amazing,” Ibine Ayo said of his career night. “Coach (Pitino) is always being hard on me all the time. I think it pays off. He always tells me, ‘Let the game come to you.’”
DIKU DUNK ⚡️@ayo_sadiku | #RedStorm pic.twitter.com/7eNBc7ZAjW
— St. John's Men’s Basketball (@StJohnsBBall) February 20, 2025
Contributing to the win alongside Ibine Ayo were Kadary Richmond, Deivon Smith, and Zuby Ejiofor, each finishing in double-scoring figures — 17, 18, and 13 respectively.
“We see it every day,” Richmond noted of Ibine Ayo’s performance. “Like Coach (Pitino) said, he’s always happy for us, so today was our turn to be happy for him. He stayed prepared. He’s always working, never complained, never said anything. So, I’m happy to see him have a game like this.”
Red Storm Injury Update
Following the win, Pitino revealed injury news regarding Red Storm’s graduate star guard Kadary Richmond, who has been dealing with a “pulled groin for about two weeks now.”
Though Richmond, a candidate for Big East Player of the Year, averaging 12.7 points per game to go along with 5.9 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game, was able to play through the injury unscathed vs. DePaul, amassing 28 minutes played, it is something to keep an eye on as the season approaches March.
While dealing with an injured groin, Kadary Richmond scored 17 points in the Red Storm win @ DePaul – Image Credit: St. John’s Men’s Basketball
“He (Richmond) played on a bad groin and he played almost 29 minutes, with nine rebounds, five assists and no turnovers,” said Pitino. “He’s been brilliant. RJ (Luis Jr.) and him both should be the leaders for the Player of the Year. Sometimes it hurts you a little because people take away votes, but both of those guys are deserving.”
Regarding an update on Luis Jr.’s injury, Pitino went on to further say that the Dominican-Ecuadorian is dealing with a pulled groin as well, stating, “I would say RJ is going to miss Connecticut (St. John’s next game this Sunday, 2/23) with a pulled groin…
This is new for RJ, but RJ’s a baller — he wants to play, but he’s never had a pulled groin before and they can be difficult.”
Dominican-Ecuadorian RJ Luis Jr. of the Red Storm is fourth in the Big East Conference in scoring per game at 17.6 PPG this season – Image Credit: Tomasso DeRosa/Latino Sports
What’s Next for the Johnnies?
No. 10 St. John’s, currently in first place, leading the Big East Conference by 2.5 games, with a 23-4 overall record, and 14-2 record in league play, will host the back-to-back NCAA champion UConn Huskies (18-8 overall, 10-5 in BE Play), this coming Sunday, February 23rd, at Madison Square Garden.
Tip-off is set for 12:00 PM ET with live television coverage on FOX and tickets still available at St. John’s Men’s Basketball Information.
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