Rick Pitino revealed four of his five starters for opening night against Stony Brook.
The new St. John’s coach will go with returning star center Joel Soriano and three transfers: Daniss Jenkins (Iona), Chris Ledlum (Harvard) and Nahiem Alleyne (Connecticut) on Tuesday.
The starting small forward will either be VMI transfer Sean Conway or Oregon State’s Glenn Taylor Jr.
Jenkins, Ledlum and Alleyne started both exhibition games.
Jordan Dingle, the nation’s leading returning scorer, will come off the bench.
The move isn’t that much of a surprise considering Dingle, a former star at Penn, missed a lot of time over the summer and fall with knee, foot and shoulder injuries.
He didn’t play in either exhibition game due to a sprained left shoulder and returned to practice last week.
“He is able to play. He’s 100 percent physically, he’s probably not 100 percent basketball-wise,” Pitino said on Monday.
“He missed a lot of time in the summer, he missed a lot of time in the fall. He’s just getting into basketball shape. But he will see time in this basketball game.”
St. John’s will be without UMass transfer RJ Luis, a talented wing who is still recovering from a fractured left hand he suffered in a practice on Oct. 1.
He is expected to return to practice later this week and could be ready to return for the Charleston Classic, which starts against North Texas on Nov. 16.
Soriano called this summer and fall the toughest from a workout standpoint of his college career.
The big man is down to under 10 percent body fat, a goal Pitino set for him after taking the job in March.
“This is the most I’ve learned as a player, how to play the game right away,” said Soriano, a first team all-league preseason selection by Big East coaches. “I give a lot of credit to coach and our coaching staff. I’m also just very excited to put everything on display, everything I’ve been learning.”
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