Milwaukee – Forget the notion that No. 6 St. John's is playing safely against Marquette on Saturday.
Big East regular season champion Johnny goes to the Fiserv forum to win the match rather than avoiding injuries.
Coach Rick Pipino has clarified Friday ahead of the trip to take on the 20th place Golden Eagles.
Point guard Davon Smith is not expected to play, but that's because he hasn't practiced since his right shoulder won Seton Hall as he re-acted Saturday.
It will be available to everyone else and used in this way.
Kadary Richmond, Aaron Scott and RJ Luis Jr. have been dealing with different leg injuries in recent weeks, but they practiced completely this week.
Winning will be a major addition to Red Storm's resume in pursuit of the best possible NCAA Tournament seeds.
“I don't need to motivate them because they know how important this game is. It's important that we play great basketball,” Pitino said. “We played a great game against UConn in the yard, and the next two didn't play great basketball.
“Because it's Marquette's Senior Day. It's a sold-out arena. That's their last. [home] game. You need the game for many reasons. It's probably the toughest match this year for us. ”
Since winning the regular season crown last Saturday, St. John's has been a toast to the city.
Pitino and Luis appeared on CBS's “Inside College Basketball” on Sunday, and the entire team was part of a skit to open NBC's “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” on Thursday night.
Pitino sat with Fallon later in the show.
He does not consider these appearances to be distractions.
“If you're off the line, explode on yourself. That's what college is, and that's all about life,” he said. “During the line, it's about work and preparation, and there's no doubt that our team will be prepared, our team will play hard.”
To hold the Fallon show, Pitino, 13 St. John's players and mascot Johnny Thunderbird all joined the comedians and sang a Sishanti parody based on the successful season.
Check out the latest Big East rankings and cents. John's statistics
Pitino wore his trademark all-white suit along with Fallon.
“It was fun. It was very creative,” said Starguard Cadalie Richmond. “Some of us did some things we didn't think we would do. …That's not my usual thing. [We have] There are a lot of interesting people on this team. ”
Asked the best singer on the team, Richmond smiled and said that it wasn't.
“I told the team: “I went to seven Final Fours and won two national championships as a coach and never appeared on 'Tonight's Show',” Pitino said. “You're in the greatest city in the world, so you're so lucky. That's why you're on that show.”
