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Over and over, St. John’s coaches and players insisted they weren’t worried about Kadary Richmond, even as he lay in the weeds and didn’t make an impact through much of the nonconference

season.  Sure, there were brief glimpses when he would take over. Just not consistently.  That patience is paying off.  The Seton Hall transfer is hitting his stride at the right time,

playing like one of the best players in the country of late.  > KADARY. RICHMOND. GAME. pic.twitter.com/rfCrEEYxcG > — St. John's Men’s Basketball (@StJohnsBBall) February 1, 2025

EXPLORE MORE With Deivon Smith out recently, Richmond took charge. And in Smith’s first game back on Saturday, Richmond was even better. He kept St. John’s afloat early, when nobody could

get anything to fall, dominated the early part of the second half, and sank the game-winning shot with three seconds to go. The jumper powered the No. 15 Johnnies to a dramatic 68-66 victory

over Providence in front of a season-high 19,196 at the Garden for their eighth straight victory and 14th in 15 tries.  “It felt very good. The coaches, my teammates, they believed in me to

give me the ball at the end of the game,” Richmond said. “We executed the play and I made a big-time shot.”  The 6-foot-6 Brooklyn native poured in a St. John’s career-high 24 points on

10-for-14 shooting and added eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals as St. John’s moved ahead of ninth-ranked Marquette atop the Big East. Richmond also sank a pair of 3-pointers as

the Red Storm recovered after blowing a 19-point lead across the final 8:32.  St. John’s (19-3, 10-1) trailed by seven late in the first half, then scored 32 of the game’s next 43 points.

Richmond’s 3-point play with 10:05 remaining pushed the lead to 19. Then Providence (11-11, 5-6) got red-hot from deep, pulling even at 66 with 32.3 seconds left on Bensley Joseph’s

3-pointer. Richmond then went to work, scoring on a pull-up jumper from the free-throw line with three seconds left. Joseph’s heave at the horn was well off the mark.  “I think he’s playing

really good basketball. We were going to win it or lose it with Kadary’s shot or his pass,” coach Rick Pitino said. “He made a terrific shot. He was shooting the ball well all game. I’m

really, really happy for him.”  Afterward, Pitino was furious with his team’s fourth-ranked defense down the stretch, faulting several different players for letting missed shots or free

throws lead to miscues at the other end of the floor. Over the final 6:28, Providence hit six 3-pointers. Even after Richmond’s shot, St. John’s had a gaffe the Friars failed to exploit. 

“Then we almost blew it again, because when Kadary scored, if you watched the left-hand side, he didn’t pick up his man,” Pitino said. “We’re lucky they took a half-court shot because they

could’ve made one pass on the left-hand side and got a lucky 3. We didn’t do our job defensively.”  RJ Luis added 19 points and eight rebounds and Zuby Ejiofor had 13 points and five

rebounds. In his return, Smith chipped in six assists. Jabri Abdur-Rahim had 27 points and eight 3-pointers in 11 attempts for Providence.  It was a minor miracle that St. John’s led at

halftime. The Johnnies had a scoring drought of 5:44 in the first half, started the game by shooting 3-for-21 from the field, managed just six points in the paint and were blanked in

transition over the first 20 minutes. But they closed the half well, ripping off a 15-4 run to take a 25-21 lead into the break. Richmond scored five of those points, a preview of the second

half to come.  In this eight-game winning streak, the Richmond that everyone expected has shown up. He is averaging 13.7 points, 5.6 assists. 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 steals in that span. He’s

even showing promising signs from beyond the arc, hitting three 3-pointers in the past two games.  “Just showing up every day, being the same guy whether things are going well or not going

well,” Richmond said. “I just kept on being who I am and it’s starting to pay off.”  He, however, wouldn’t say he has arrived quite yet.  “We’re getting there,” the senior said.