SAN DIEGO — There has been a noticeable uptick in St. John’s offense of late.
The Red Storm have made more 3-pointers. They have been sharing the ball. But perhaps the biggest change has been Bryce Hopkins.
He has looked like his pre-torn ACL self.
“I think he’s a little quicker, he’s jumping a little higher and he’s playing with confidence,” coach Rick Pitino said as the fifth-seeded Johnnies prepared to meet No. 4 Kansas on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Viejas Arena. “I think he’s been [improving] the whole season.
“It’s tough coming off an injury, a very serious one, and he’s working his way. He’s very confident.”
Hopkins has scored in double figures in five straight games after a stretch of offensive inconsistency. In that span, he is averaging 13.8 points on 60 percent shooting along with eight rebounds.
He’s also making 3-pointers, an area of his game that Pitino has wanted him to utilize more. For the first time this season, Hopkins has hit multiple triples in consecutive games.
“It helps,” Pitino said. “He doesn’t like taking a lot [of them]. I get on him all the time, like, ‘Bryce, take it, man, take it.’ ”
Hopkins has clearly found his game at the right time. That’s not to say he had a bad year. He was an All-Big East second team selection, a pivotal piece to St. John’s winning the league’s regular-season crown outright. But he has taken a major step forward in March.
He hit the biggest shot of the Big East Tournament, a left-elbow jumper that changed the momentum of the championship game after Connecticut had gotten within seven in the second half. When Hopkins is an offensive force, it changes St. John’s dynamic, because it doesn’t have to depend so much on standout forward Zuby Ejiofor.
“I feel it’s just being comfortable,” Hopkins said. “We’re playing some really good basketball. We’re playing together as a team. And we’re not thinking out there on offense.
“Coach gives us all the confidence and freedom in the world to play, which makes it easy for us to play. I mean, our focus is on the defensive end, and that makes it easier for us on the offensive end.”
As a sophomore at Providence, Hopkins emerged as one of the Big East’s top players, a first team selection. Then, he suffered a torn ACL on Jan. 3, 2024.
He appeared in just three games last season due to the injury, then transferred to St. John’s. Of late, he is looking much more like the player before the major injury, finishing above the rim, hitting 3-pointers and defending at a high level.
“He’s much more assertive and he’s much more confident in his abilities,” Pitino said recently. “I think, like anything else, he’s passing the ball well, he’s rebounding well, he’s driving well, he handles the ball great on the break like, like Dillon Mitchell does.”
The key for Hopkins and St. John’s is that it continues. He is becoming an X-factor for them, the player everyone expected when the Red Storm landed him in the transfer portal last spring.
