By CHRIS RUSSELL
NEW YORK –– In less than 24 hours, St. John’s lost one of its best players, its second straight game and likely its Top-25 ranking, too.
A day after the announcement that guard Rysheed Jordan would taken an indefinite leave of absence, St. John’s went down in defeat in their conference home opener against Butler, 73-69, at Carnesecca Arena.
With the loss, St. John’s (11-3, 0-2) will drop out of the AP Top 25 come Monday.
“Rysheed does a lot of things,” head coach Steve Lavin said. “He’s a tremendous basketball player with a bright future. On both ends of the floor he can influence the game, but right now we have this group and we have to get ready for Villanova [on Tuesday].”
And Jordan won’t be back for that game, either.
“No, no, he will not be playing against Villanova,” said Lavin.
When asked if Jordan had played his last game at St. John’s, Lavin said, “At this point it’s too soon. As we get more information, I’ll be able to share.”
Jordan’s teammates, like everyone else, learned the news on Friday night.
“We all got a text, we got together in the hotel [Friday] night,” senior guard D’Angelo Harrison said. “It hurts but our job is to go out and play every day and get ready for Tuesday.”
Butler came into Saturday’s contest with positive momentum after officially introducing new head coach Chris Holtmann as the replacement for Brandon Miller. Holtmann signed a multi-year deal with the Bulldogs, sources confirmed to SNY.tv.
The Bulldogs used that momentum to their advantage to earn their first conference victory of the year.
The Bulldogs were led by junior guard Kellen Dunham who posted 28 points on 8-for-16 shooting and 6-for-7 from behind the arc. Guard Alex Barlow scored 15 points and tallied 6 rebounds.
St. John’s was led by Harrison’s 31 points on 10-for-21 shooting. Guard Phil Greene IV posted 14 points.
Butler picked up momentum early in the second half and never looked back, outscoring the Red Storm 47-39 in the final 20 minutes of play.
Fatigue was a factor for the Johnnies as all five starters logged more than 34 minutes of play. Limited production from the bench was another factor that hurt the Johnnies as their only two reserves — Christian Jones and Joey De La Rosa — combined for 0 points on just two shot attempts.
The absence of Jordan was noticeable. The Preseason All-Big East Second Team Selection is the Red Storm’s second-leading scorer and ranks sixth in the conference averaging 14.0 points per game. Jordan is projected as the No. 56 pick in the 2016 Draft by DraftExpress.com.
“He comes off the bench and he’s another factor,” said Harrison. “He can do a lot of things. Like I said before, we have to play with the group we have now and not let it distract us.”
Since the start of the season, St. John’s lost two post players in Keith Thomas and Adonis De La Rosa, and now they must somehow make up for Jordan’s absence, too.
Photo: Anthony Gruppuso / USA Today Sports
