Deivon Smith’s right shoulder is “pretty sore,” but he doesn’t believe it is out of the question that he could play Tuesday night against Georgetown at the Garden.
“I never rule myself out until it’s time to go and I’m not suited up,” the Johnnies’ point guard said over Zoom on Monday. “I try to play through a lot of pain. I’m a pretty tough guy.”
It sounds like St. John’s and Smith got lucky. It could’ve been much worse.
Smith, the team’s engine and starting lead guard, suffered the injury while going for a loose ball late in the first half of the Johnnies’ win over Villanova when he collided with Wooga Poplar.
He stayed down and then immediately went to the locker room. He came out for the second half in a sling. Smith did play three minutes after the injury, but was extremely limited and didn’t take a shot.
St. John’s is listing him as day-to-day with a sprained right shoulder.
“It’s pretty sore. I’m moving a lot better than I was on Saturday,” he said. “But right now I’m pretty sore, heavily treating it.”
The victory eased the pain somewhat. Without Smith, St. John’s still won its ninth game in 10 tries, closing it out with a 14-3 run over the final 2:05.
“We all really wanted this win. We prepped really hard, we watched a lot of film for it, we did a lot of work making sure we didn’t make the mistakes we did in previous games just to secure the ‘W.’” Smith said. “RJ [Luis] played really well, Kadary [Richmond] made big plays, [Simeon Wilcher] made big plays, Zuby [Ejiofor] played excellent as always. I know my teammates always have my back.
“Just me giving it another shot, just shows the love I have for my team, the passion I have for the game. I’m definitely willing to go out there with one arm. I wish it was my left arm – I would’ve played more.”
