The Pirate faithful rained down boos on Kadary Richmond as he prepared for his first game at the Prudential Center since March 2024. The graduate student departed from Seton Hall after three seasons with the program; he now plays for the St. John’s Red Storm.
Despite the crowd’s atmosphere, Richmond didn’t seem bothered one bit. He tallied 12 points and six assists, setting up his teammates for open looks all night.
As impressive as Richmond was, he wasn’t even the standout for the Red Storm. Junior guard RJ Luis Jr. put on a show, scoring 24 points and shooting 4-5 from three. He was electric from the start and even had 13 points in the first 10 minutes.
Isaiah Coleman was the leading scorer for the Pirates at 11 points, but he struggled from the field, shooting just 1-13. He was far from the only one who shot poorly, as the Pirates made only 15 of their 57 field goal attempts— a concerning 26% compared to St. John’s 47% (28 – 60).
The Red Storm notably dominated throughout the first half. Richmond started the game aggressive, driving to the rim and dumping it off to junior, Zuby Ejofor, for an easy layup. Soon after, Richmond drove strong on the right side and finished through contact for his first points, putting St. John’s up 7-0.
Luis Jr, the 6’7 guard, came out firing. He knocked down his first three off a cross-court pass from Richmond. Less than two minutes later, he hit a stepback three from the top of the key to give the Red Storm a 15-3 lead with 14:21 remaining in the half. Luis Jr’s third three bounced on the side of the rim, looking like it was going to be no good - until it fell in the basket.
Meanwhile, the Pirates struggled offensively with a shooting stretch of 0-16 from the field. Chaunce Jenkins broke this scoring drought, hitting a three. Down 39-16 at the end of the first, the Pirates offense was stagnant.
The second half was a different story for the Pirates. Godswill Erheriene scored the first points of the half with a layup. This was followed by a three from the left corner by Jahseem Felton. Then, Prince Aligbe made a layup on the fast break. This run was the most momentum the Pirates had mustered up to this point, forcing St. John’s head coach, Rick Pitino, to call a timeout.
Down 42 - 23, the Pirates had a mountain to climb, but they kept fighting. After all, they were just down 20 points against DePaul and came back to win the game in overtime, 85-80.
The Pirate got on their feet as Garwey Dual slammed home a dunk, cutting the lead to 45-27 with 16:02 remaining. Immediately after, Dual stole the ball from Richmond and passed it to Prince Aligbe for a fast-break layup, as fans blew the roof off the Prudential Center. St. John’s called yet another timeout, and now, the momentum was clearly in the Pirates’ hands.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, the Red Storm continued to score in increments, matching what the Pirates had to offer. A dunk from Simeon Wilcher followed by a layup from Ejiofor increased the Red Storm’s lead back up to 20 points and Coach Holloway called a timeout with the Pirates now flustered. The Red Storm led 49-29 at the 13:42 mark.
With tensions high, both coaches, Holloway and Pitino, were yelling and were assessed technical fouls.
The Pirates showed more fire than ever and their offense was far better than it was in the first half. Prince Aligbe had an and-1 layup at 10:26 to chip away at the lead, making it 55-39.
Although the Pirate's offense was much better, they still lacked the defensive prowess to stop the Red Storm. Seton Hall was also in the double-bonus, with 10 fouls and nine minutes remaining. They were down 59-39, and this certainly wasn't helping.
Despite the game being nearly out of reach, this didn’t stop the Richmond and Luis Jr. duo from continuing to score. Richmond found Luis Jr. open on the wing for his fourth three of the game, putting him at 22 points. The Red Storm led 69-45 with 4:23 left.
Luis Jr. put the game to bed with a windmill dunk as the St. John’s fans in the arena cheered him on. The final score was 79 to 51.
"When you get people to shoot 13% from the field, 12% from three, you're just playing remarkable defense," Pitino said, speaking about his team's first half defense. "Real proud of our guys. It was a terrific win."
The Pirates are currently 6-13 and are 1-7 in BIG EAST play. Their next matchup is an away game against the Creighton Bluejays on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 1:30 p.m.
Matthew Soetebeer is the head editor for The Setonian's Sports section. He can be reached at matthew.soetebeer@student.shu.edu.
