Kadary Richmond made history on Saturday, becoming the first St. John’s player to record a triple-double since Ron Artest (now Metta Sandiford-Artest) accomplished the feat on January 9, 1999.
“It means a lot to me and my teammates,” Richmond said after sixth-ranked St. John’s thrilling 86-84 overtime victory over No. 20 Marquette at Fiserv Forum. “We’ve been doing historic things all season, so this time it’s an individual one. But I’ll give it all to them. They made shots, they made the big plays.”
Richmond delivered a historic triple-double for St. John’s, tallying 10 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, and four steals in 42 minutes.
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Despite struggling with his shot (5-for-13), he made a game-changing defensive play in overtime, tipping the ball away from Chase Ross after an RJ Luis Jr. miss.
Simeon Wilcher recovered it and set up Zuby Ejiofor for the buzzer-beating game-winner.
“I think he was fatigued and he fought through the fatigue,” St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said of his star senior guard. “Made big plays down the stretch.”
The Hall of Fame coach added: “Easiest great player I’ve coached by far. He owns up to everything, he listens, he’s highly intelligent. It’s always about his teammates, never about him. First triple-double [for a St. John’s player] since Ron Artest and he won’t even pat himself on the back one bit. That type of humility in today’s generation is something to be proud of.”
Wilcher stepped up in Deivon Smith’s absence, delivering 13 points, three assists, and a block in 41 minutes—his best performance in weeks.
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“I thought ‘Sim’ was great tonight,” Pitino said. “He did give up Kam [Jones’] left hand too much defensively. He was just trying to stay out of foul trouble because he knew we couldn’t afford foul trouble. … I thought Sim had by far the best practice of all the guys [on Friday].”
Freshman Lefteris Liotopoulos made the most of his season-high 16 minutes, contributing six points and two rebounds off the bench.
