Seton Hall basketball: Kadary Richmond gets last laugh as St. John's romps in Newark

Seton Hall basketball: Kadary Richmond gets last laugh as St. John’s romps in Newark

Posted by Admin January 19, 2025 Basketball

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NEWARK – The boos rained down on Kadary Richmond from the moment he took the Prudential Center court Saturday night.

Since last spring, when Richmond transferred from Seton Hall to St. John’s for his postgraduate season – the first Pirate basketball player ever to switch to another Big East program – this game was circled on Hall fans’ calendar.

They booed him throughout the contest and waved placards picturing snakes and dollar signs, but Richmond got the last laugh after switching sides. St. John’s rolled to a 79-51 victory – a potent reminder of how the Johnnies put together a powerhouse roster during the first offseason of full-fledged free agency while the Hall wound up with scraps.

St. John’s coach Rick Pitino drove home this point afterward with a stinging but truthful assessment.

“Look, every one of those students and everybody in the building would have done the same thing he did (transferring),” Pitino said. “Believe me, if the money was the same, he would be playing for Shaheen (Holloway). If the money was close, he would be playing for Shaheen. He’s a free agent, just like all free agents. He loves Seton Hall, he loves Shaheen, playing for Shaheen, loved his teammates here.”

Uninterrupted, he continued: “But it’s not a level playing field. I’m hoping revenue comes in for Seton Hall and everybody basically gets the same, and then you’ll see Seton Hall just as good as any team in the league. Right now they don’t have the revenue that most of the other teams have. Probably it’s the lowest in the league.”

The situation Saturday marked a stark departure from last year’s meeting here, when the Pirates romped St. John’s thanks to a 28-0 run. Holloway went 2-1 against Pitino’s Johnnies last year, then his best player switched sides and his second-best player, Dre Davis, left for a payday at Ole Miss.

“I’m just playing the hand I was dealt,” Holloway said when asked to respond to Pitino’s comments. “I can’t get into that. This is the hand I was dealt, I’m playing it, I’m not going to complain or argue, I’m going to keep coaching and fighting and trying to get better. What we have is what we have. That’s what I got to deal with, I deal with it and try to make the best of it.”

Holloway then turned to his team’s performance.

“We’ve got to play with some heart; we’ve got to play with some fight,” he said. “I thought we got punked tonight – 100 percent punked. This was men against boys. We got embarrassed. I’m embarrassed. I feel awful for the program and I feel awful for everything that took place tonight. But this is big-boy basketball and I’ve got another game Tuesday and I’ve got to get my head ready for that.”

Hit with another question about Pitino’s comments, Holloway replied: “Certain people can talk about money and talk about things and certain people can’t. He’s a Hall of Fame coach, he’s been around. He can make those types of statements. I make statements like that and everybody says, who is he to make those statements?”

Richmond finished with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, six assists, five rebounds and four turnovers as St. John’s improved to 16-3 overall and 7-1 in the Big East. The point guard also spearheaded a defense that held Seton Hall (6-12, 1-6) to a stunning 4-of-30 shooting in the first half.

“He handled it great — nothing really bothers Kadary,” Pitino said of the environment.

“It was nice to come back and get a win despite all the boos and stuff like that,” Richmond said when asked about the fans. “I think I carved out a very good career here, so I appreciate them”

Holloway, who developed Richmond into a first-team All-Big East playmaker, was asked about Richmond’s return and the crowd’s reaction.

“He was with me for two years; he was good for me,” Holloway said. “I thought he grew playing for me, with the year he had last year, I thought he carried us along with Al (Amir-Dawes) and Dre (Davis). It’s part of the business now that we’re in, guys do things. I can’t tell the crowd how to react to things. That’s what they did.”

This was the polar opposite of last year’s meeting here, when Richmond fueled a 28-0 Pirates run on the way to an 80-65 victory. The Pirates came into Saturday having beaten St. John’s seven straight times in Newark and holding a 12-1 record in this building against the Red Storm, with the lone loss coming in a blizzard before an empty arena.

St. John’s defense put the squeeze on standout Seton Hall wing Isaiah Coleman, who tallied 11 points and six boards but shot just 1-of-13 from the field.

“I told him, ‘right now, you’re at the top of everybody’s scouting report.,'” Holloway said. “Everybody’s gonna come in and face guard him. St. John’s was super aggressive with him, and I told him, ‘You made a mistake by showing a weakness by complaining to the refs.’ Once they saw that, they continued to keep doing it, and he wasn’t getting the calls. So he’s just gotta play through it, don’t complain. Just put your head down, keep working hard, try to get other points, steals and rebounds, try to get some easy ones. I thought he was pressing trying to carry us, and it just didn’t happen for him tonight.”

A bad game for the Hall got worse when starting guard Chaunce Jenkins (11.3 ppg) limped off the court shortly before halftime and did not return due to a hamstring injury.

It added up St. John’s most lopsided victory at Seton Hall since a 30-point rout in 1973.

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

1-Crowd did its job

A bit under 9,000 fans turned out – probably 1,500 St. John’s fans – and the Pirate faithful were rocking at the start. Richmond got booed heartily each time he touched the ball until the score reached the point where apathy set in.

True to form, Richmond remained expressionless the entire time. He never gets swept up into the emotion of a game – home or away, win or lose. This was more of the same.

Although this marked the largest St. John’s fan contingent ever at the Rock, it was far from the arena takeover some had feared. That said, the red-clad denizens had plenty to cheer about, and made themselves heard early and often.

2. Point guard shortage

Dylan Addae-Wusu (foot) missed a second straight game, and the Pirates once again suffered as a result. Seton Hall’s best defender, the guy who would have guarded Richmond, is irreplaceable on that end.

And while Addae-Wusu is not a point guard – he’d been forced into initiating the offense because of preseason presumed starter Garwey Dual’s ineffectiveness and presumed backup Zion Harmon’s departure – he’s an experienced hand who can hit a shot.

“I’m not sure anybody could have helped us today, to tell you the truth,” Holloway said. “Obviously Dylan’s missed because he’s one of our captains and one of our leaders, and obviously somebody that could play defense. His (return) timetable, I don’t know.”

It’s worth noting that the three games Addae-Wusu missed this season (Monmouth, Butler, and now St. John’s) included the two most dispiriting losses.

3. Frontcourt struggle continues

Seton Hall shot 8-of-30 at the rim – with most of those shots coming from a group of bigs who are simply overwhelmed at the Big East level. The Johnnies outscored the Hall 40-16 in the paint, and the Pirates converted 19 offensive rebounds into just nine points.

In fairness to 6-foot-7 junior Prince Aligbe (8 points, 4 rebounds), he is playing out of position much of the time out of necessity. The five guys in the rotation who are as big or bigger shot a combined 2-for-12.

This was not an anomaly. The Pirates are getting manhandled game after game inside. Even catching a pass or corralling a rebound is an adventure for this group.

The most notable moments for the Pirates’ bigs were flagrant fouls.

After Godswill Erheriene tried to block St. John’s forward Aaron Scott at the rim and took him down with a hard foul – Scott’s head bounced off the hardwood, a scary scene – Erheriene was assessed with a Flagrant 1 foul and Holloway and Pitino got issued a double technical as words were exchanged by the scorer’s table.

Later in the second half, Gus Yalden got hit with a Flagrant 1 on his way to fouling out after just seven minutes of court time.

4. Holloway let his emotions show

When asked where Seton Hall goes from here, with seventh-ranked Marquette coming to Newark Tuesday, Holloway shared what he told his team in the locker room.

“We got embarrassed at home, we got outplayed, out-everything, and it’s a terrible feeling, but we gotta bounce back,” he said. “We can’t have another repeat play like this. Fellas, I’ll be honest with you: I don’t know what to say, man. I’m super embarrassed right now and I have a lot on my mind, but I’ll stay and answer as many questions as you want.”

5. An embarrassing day

This entire affair – from Richmond’s return to the final score – was a reminder that Seton Hall has a water pistol in a shootout.

Most Big East programs retain their best player year to year. Seton Hall’s was wearing red Saturday.

If two sections of St. John’s fans chanting “Kadary Richmond” on the Pirates’ home floor over the final two minutes doesn’t cause Seton Hall to reevaluate its approach to NIL procurement and roster-building in the free-agency era, nothing will.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.