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Rick Pitino Reveals Unfortunate St. John’s Injury News Ahead of Big East Tournament

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Matt Wadleigh | Last updated Mar 7, 2025 11:43 AM ET

For the first time in 40 years, the St. John's Red Storm men's basketball team won the conference title outright.

Rick Pitino and St. John's defeated Seton Hall on March 1 to win their fifth straight game and move to 17-2 in the Big East, which put them three games above Creighton.

St. John's concludes the regular season against No. 20 Marquette on Saturday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in a game that could boost their NCAA Tournament resume even more.

However, St. John's received some untimely injury news regarding senior guard Deivon Smith.

Smith was ruled out for Saturday's game due to a shoulder injury, as Jon Rothstein mentioned on Friday.

On top of that, Pitino revealed some more unfortunate news on the Smith injury front, per Adam Zagoria. Pitino said Smith "hasn't practiced in five days" and remained uncertain about his status for the Big East Tournament.

"I don't expect him back for the Big East Tournament but I don't know that for sure," Pitino said.

Smith is in his fifth college season and played at Mississippi State, two years at Georgia Tech and one year at Utah before transferring to St. John's.

The senior is averaging 9.9 points per game with 5.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists. Meanwhile, he suffered a bruised right shoulder on January 11 and missed four games since then, although he did play in the game against Seton Hall.

The Big East Tournament begins on March 12, but St. John's won't play until March 13 due to having a bye.

The status of Smith will certainly be something to monitor, although it doesn't seem promising for St. John's.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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