The plan, Deivon Smith insisted, was for him to miss Sunday’s game against Creighton.
This wasn’t Rick Pitino trying to pull one over on anyone.
Smith hadn’t practiced in nearly a week, still bothered by the bruised right shoulder he suffered Jan. 11.
That game he missed, a loss at Villanova that snapped the 10th-ranked Johnnies’ 10-game winning streak, bothered him.
“Watching that Villanova game was super hard because I know we should’ve won that,” the senior point guard recalled over Zoom on Monday.
So Saturday morning, his shoulder feeling better, he reached out to Pitino.
He wanted to try a player development session. That went well. He practiced, too.
That went even better.
“I had a great [individual workout]. I had a great practice,” the 6-foot Smith recalled as St. John’s prepared to visit DePaul on Wednesday night. “I hit six or seven 3s, and I said, ‘I might be back.’”
He looked back on Sunday, looking like his pre-injury self.
Smith had eight points, three assists and two rebounds in 26 quality minutes.
Even more than that, he played with his trademark pace, defended at a high level and wasn’t favoring his shoulder.
In the three previous games he played in, that wasn’t the case.
The speedy lead guard was tentative and unsure of himself.
It was part of the reason Pitino had suggested he could miss the rest of the regular season.
St. John’s (22-4, 13-2) needed the impactful Smith back, not the player thinking about his injury while on the court.
After the loss to Villanova, Pitino said he wasn’t planning on seeing Smith on the floor until he was completely 100 percent physically and mentally, and suggested he could be out until March.
The player heard those quotes and joked that Pitino was being “dramatic.”
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“It was definitely motivating, just because for me as a player watching my team win and the success we’re having this season, just watching all the fun, I definitely didn’t want to miss out on it,” Smith said. “I know I can contribute in multiple ways. I told him I’ll get through it, I’ll get through the mental part, and I’m OK with whatever comes with it.
“Whether I have a bad game or good game, because I’m sure I can do two or three good things that could change the pace of the game or change the momentum, I told him I would sacrifice for the team just to win and be part of the success.”
It has been a roller coaster of a season for Smith, the Utah transfer.
When he’s been healthy, he’s been a major part of St. John’s success.
But he’s also missed a significant amount of time, and there was the one-game suspension in December when he and Pitino clashed over playing time during the trip to the Bahamas.
But there’s no doubt how important he will be to this team in March.
Smith is St. John’s best 3-point shooter at 37.3 percent, the key to its transition game and arguably its top on-ball defender.
When Pitino says the Johnnies have room for offensive improvement, a lot of that is Smith finding his playmaking and shotmaking groove.
The pain in the shoulder isn’t completely gone, but Smith said he is done missing any more practice or games. It is manageable.
He’s more focused on finding his game ahead of March for the first NCAA Tournament of his career.
Sunday was only the start for him, a memorable day on which St. John’s took control of the Big East by beating second-place Creighton, and he felt the love from the Johnnies’ faithful.
“From the starting lineups, where everybody’s cheering for Zuby [Ejiofor], or me checking in, getting a standing ovation at the Garden, that’s something that I’ll remember forever,” he said. “Playing in front of sold-out crowds, hearing everybody screaming and cheering for us and taking hundreds of pictures after the games, it’s an amazing feeling.”
