St. John’s men’s basketball smashes Seton Hall in Kadary Richmond’s return to Newark

Richmond and the Johnnies silenced the boos with a thorough domination of the Pirates

Seton Hall fans waited for months to see Kadary Richmond, their ally-turned-rival, make his return to the Prudential Center.

From the opening tip-off, they booed vociferously whenever Kadary Richmond touched the ball, but as the night went on, those jeers grew progressively quieter. The Red Storm’s lock-tight defense squeezed the hostility out of the home crowd, holding the Pirates to only 15 field goals made and 26.3% shooting.

Ultimately, Richmond, the Red Storm — and their throng of traveling fans — were the ones who felt right at home, as St. John’s ran away with a dominating 79-51 win on Saturday night.

The opening minutes immediately revealed it would be a long night for the Pirates. St. John’s fired off an early 17-3 run with 13:42 remaining in the first half. R.J. Luis posted 13 of his team-high 24 points in the first half and eventually finished with a season-high four made threes. The Red Storm smothered Seton Hall on defense, forcing Hall to miss 20 of their first 21 attempts and holding them to a wretched 4-of-30 from the field in the first half (13.3%).

St. John’s entered the half with a 39-16 lead, their largest first-half edge in three years, and they did not relent. The Pirates only came as close as 16 points on two occasions before St. John’s would slam the door shut on any inclination of momentum for the Pirates with steals and fastbreak dunks. Deivon Smith returned from a shoulder injury, albeit hampered, and still delivered a gorgeous alley-oop dish to R.J. Luis mid-way through the second half.

Kadary Richmond remained his nonchalant self in the face of an acrimonious crowd, finishing with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, five rebounds, six assists, and two steals. Zuby Ejiofor finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks on a reduced workload. Aaron Scott scored in double-figures again with 10 points and eight rebounds.

The St. John’s men’s basketball team (16-3, 7-1 Big East) now sit atop the Big East standings and will return to action on Wednesday, January 22, when they look to complete the season sweep of the Xavier Musketeers (12-7, 4-4 Big East) at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Eastern time, and the game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1.