Deivon Smith questionable with shoulder injury for No. 6 St. John’s

By Canadian Press on March 12, 2025.

NEW YORK (AP) — Point guard Deivon Smith’s status is uncertain for No. 6 St. John’s heading into the postseason.

Smith has been in and out of the lineup since January because of a nagging shoulder injury. He sat out the regular-season finale last Saturday, an 86-84 overtime victory at then-No. 20 Marquette.

The 6-foot senior practiced Tuesday and a little bit Wednesday, according to coach Rick Pitino. But he wasn’t sure if Smith will play Thursday for the top-seeded Red Storm in their Big East Tournament quarterfinal against No. 9 seed Butler.

“He looked OK. I think he’s rusty. He hasn’t practiced in a long time,” Pitino said.

Smith, a lightning-fast transfer from Utah, has missed five games since exiting a Jan. 11 victory over Villanova with a bruised right shoulder.

He’s played in 25 games this season, starting 17, and averaged 9.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.7 steals in 28 minutes to help the Red Storm (27-4, 18-2) win their first outright Big East regular-season title since 1985.

“Here’s the story with Deivon: He came back from that — I think it was the Villanova game — he never was the same Deivon. He was always worried about getting hit again,” Pitino said.

“More than anything else he’s got to get over the mental part of getting hit again. Because you’re going to get hit. If you’re a point guard, you’re going to get hit in your shoulder, because you have to get over screens, you have to handle pick-and-rolls. Once he gets over the mental aspect of that, he’ll be fine and he’ll be the great player that he was in the first half of the season.”

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Mike Fitzpatrick, The Associated Press