Ian Jackson ruled out for St. John’s men’s basketball game against Creighton with ankle injury
· Yahoo Sports
St. John’s was fortunate to enjoy a mostly healthy season for their major contributors up until this point. Besides an early-season calf injury to Dylan Darling that only sidelined him for one game, the Red Storm’s rotation has been at full strength. That availability has helped them carve out an ongoing 12-game winning streak. However, their depth will be tested for the first time in months.
Visit fishroad-app.com for more information.
Ian Jackson has been ruled out of Saturday’s contest against Creighton with a right ankle injury and could possibly miss multiple games. According to multiple reports, Jackson is currently in a walking boot.
Jackson appeared to suffer the injury in the first half of Wednesday night’s game at Marquette, when he jumped for a rebound and twisted his right ankle, landing on the top of Joson Sanon’s foot at the 6:30 mark. However, the sophomore guard continued to play for 13 more minutes in Wednesday’s game, finishing with eight points on 3-of-6 shooting, three assists, and three rebounds in the 76-70 win over the Golden Eagles.
Tomorrow will mark the second straight game that Rick Pitino utilizes a different starting five, after the lineup of Oziyah Sellers, Ian Jackson, Bryce Hopkins, Dillon Mitchell, and Zuby Ejiofor remained unchanged for the previous eleven games. Sanon replaced Sellers in the starting lineup in Wednesday night’s game against Marquette as the senior guard came off the bench while dealing with his own ankle injury.
Jackson’s ankle injury throws a wrench in his battle for more playing time. Although Jackson is averaging 10.4 points per game on respectable shooting splits of 43% from the field, 36% from three, and 90.2% from the free throw line and has started in the last 18 games for St. John’s, he still hasn’t secured the trust of Rick Pitino to become the team’s primary ball-handler and is seeing the court less than he did as a freshman at North Carolina.
Last season, Jackson averaged 23.8 minutes per game despite coming off the bench in 24 of 36 games played. This season, he’s only playing 19.8 minutes per game and logged 15 minutes or less in the three games prior to Wednesday night’s matchup with Marquette. Factor in Dylan Darling’s ascent as a ball-handler and defender, and Jackson’s path to consistent playing time becomes murkier.
St. John’s seeks to extend their conference winning streak to 13 games when they face the Creighton Bluejays (14-13, 8-8 Big East) on Saturday, February 20. Tip-off from Madison Square Garden is scheduled for 1 p.m., and the game can be watched on FS1.