Rick Pitino knows exactly what buttons to push in order to motivate his players and he’s already working on unlocking a new side of Providence transfer Bryce Hopkins prior to the start of the St. John’s basketball season.
Nearly a week after Hopkins and the rest of the Red Storm starters dominated the team’s bench during a scrimmage inside Madison Square Garden, Pitino announced on Thursday during St. John’s media day that he would be starting Dillon Mitchell over Hopkins in Saturday’s exhibition game against Towson.
Pitino added that there will be a lot of fluidity in the starting lineups early in the season, pointing out that he didn’t start RJ Luis or Kadary Richmond in the first preseason game last year, he noted that he’s looking to see more out of the former All-Big East forward.