Villanova, Pa. — Moved into the starting lineup from outside the rotation.
Freshman wing Brady Dunlap suddenly became an important part of this St. John's team.
He made a surprising contribution to Tuesday's win over Butler, but he lost Saturday's 81-71 victory over Villanova at Finneran Pavilion.
Dunlap scored a career-high 15 points in 31 minutes, including a game-ending 3-pointer with 2:42 left, extending the lead to 13 points.
“It's one of the best feelings ever,” Dunlap said after St. John's won at Villanova's on-campus arena for the first time since 1993. Hit the shot there. Respect to all my teammates. If you look at the play as a whole, there was a lot of ball movement.
“[Nahiem Alleyne] Catch it in the middle. He took a lot of mid-range shots, but he believed he was going to give me the ball in the corner. He is very grateful to the freshman for trusting him and making the shot. ”
Dunlap, who started in place of injured power forward Chris Ledrum, made 5 of 8 shots and sank three 3-pointers. It has evolved into an offensive weapon.
His teammates witnessed it in practice.
But now it's happening in the game.
“I feel like it's a confidence booster for him to move his feet in the game and believe in himself, because we believe in him,” Joel Soriano said.
Before the game against Butler, Dunlap had scored 18 points all season.
He had not played in the previous four games.
Now, with Big East play in full swing, he's becoming an important piece for coach Rick Pitino's first St. John's team.
“I would say this is surprising given the trajectory of my own season,” Dunlap said. “At the same time, I never lost confidence in myself as a player. [fellow freshman Simeon Wilcher] — that's like my best friend now — and whenever we weren't playing, we'd go back to the dorm and talk about what we could have done to help the team if we had played.
“He's just my guy and he's helped my confidence a lot. I've helped him with things. He's always kept me ready.”
Chris Ledlum (ankle sprain) has missed two of the past three games.
He reinjured his ankle Tuesday against Butler.
Pitino said the swelling has gone down, but his ankle is still weak.
“We made a huge mistake in certain situations by trying to get guys back a little early,” Pitino said. “The trainer said he would play, but he's only 50 percent yet. I said, 'Well, he's not playing.' ”
His status for Wednesday's game against Providence at the Garden is unknown.
