Dylan Addae-Wusu insisted it was just one other game.
No extra motivation.
No desire to indicate St. John’s recent coaching staff that it must have kept him.
His performance said otherwise.
The previous Johnnies’ guard torched his old team, helping Seton Hall cruise past St. John’s, 80-65, at Prudential Center on Tuesday night.
“He got here out and played [well],” Pirates coach Shaheen Holloway said. “He was ready, and I assumed it was a carryover. I assumed he had game at Butler, and I feel he got here in and type of set the tone, got his hands on a whole lot of balls, scoring, driving to the basket, hitting 3s. I’m comfortable for him, but like I said, we’ve got a whole lot of work to be done.”
Addae-Wusu had 16 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, playing a serious role within the one-sided victory.
He sank three 3-pointers, hit all five of his free throws and notched his second double-double of the season.
Addae-Wusu hasn’t scored much this 12 months — his 8.4 points per game average is his lowest since his freshman 12 months — but he has come on of late offensively, reaching double figures in three of his last six games.
He downplayed the opponent, although he spent the primary three years of his profession at St. John’s.
“It was just one other game, just one other opportunity to play Seton Hall basketball,” said Addae-Wusu, one in all several players recent St. John’s coach Rick Pitino opted not to maintain upon taking on.
Paradoxically, two of his best games have come against familiar faces.
On Saturday in a win over Butler, Addae-Wusu had 14 points against close friend and former St. John’s teammate Posh Alexander.
Three days later, he performed even higher for the red-hot Pirates, who’ve been the surprise of the Big East to this point.
Picked to complete ninth within the league, they’re on their own atop the standings.
With a win over No. 18 Creighton on Saturday in Newark, Seton Hall (13-5, 6-1) will likely be ranked within the Associated Press Top-25 poll on Monday for the primary time within the Holloway era.
“We’re still gonna be counted because the underdogs because they didn’t imagine we may very well be here,” said guard Al-Amir Dawes, who scored a game-high 21 points.
“We just knew what we could do. We still wish to be the underdogs, we still wish to play with that chip on our shoulder.”