Sadiku Ibine Ayo is more than one of Rick Pitino's favorites these days.
He has also become an important part of the bench.
The Junior Wing played a pivotal role in the regular season championship-packed Seton Hall victory at St. John's Big East on Saturday, scoring eight points and adding five rebounds in 30 minutes from the bench.
Ibin Ayo was called in with a 71-61 victory and grew as starter Aaron Scott was cut down for just three minutes due to a hamstring injury.
When RJ Luis Jr. came out, it reminded him of winning DePaul with his career-high 15-point effort.
“You want everyone to have Sadiq and Zubi's attitude [Ejiofor]. Obviously, no one can have that kind of personality,” Pitino said. “It's a God's gift, always positive, always working hard. It's a great gift. He has it. He didn't play great defensively, but no one did, and he did a lot of good things offensively.”
In the two games following DePaul's victory, Ibine Ayo only played 12 minutes in total, but was ready.
The former Iona University player shot 36.4% from the 3-point range and showed the trick to knock down a shot.
6ft 6 Ibin Ayo has become an important part of St. John's.
The Tri-Captain always brings energy and enthusiasm to the bench.
Now he is affecting the courts with his defense and shotmaking. It's particularly important for the rest of the season, with sophomore Brady Dunlap and freshman Jaden Glover getting injured.
Early on, it became clear that Scott was not healthy. He came out after 2:50 and didn't go back. Ibine Ayo checked in and rarely left the rest of the road off the floor. St. John's beat Seton Hall 16 points in 30 minutes.
“He was limping. The trainer told me he was 70-80%, so I really quickly found out he wasn't 70-80%,” Pitino said of Scott. “We had to go with 'Dik' and he did a solid job. Hopefully we'll get [Scott] Back to next week's game [against Marquette]. ”
Former Johnny Dylan Adahé Us made it difficult at St. John's.
The fifth-grade senior scored 18 points, seven assists and four rebounds in the 37th minute.
While introducing the players, Addae-Wusu was praised by St. John's fans.
He spent his first three seasons with Johnny.
St. John's has completed Seton Hall's first regular season sweep since 2013-14.
That 26 wins have been the most since the 1998-99 elite eight seasons, when Johnny won 28 games.
Former Knicks star John Starks was in attendance. So did Tom Julich, athletic director at Pitino in Louisville.
