How Rick Pitino decided on defiant Deivon Smith’s punishment after poor benching reaction

Rick Pitino has decided against suspending Deivon Smith, allowing the team to decide on a punishment after he handled his benching in Sunday’s loss to Georgia poorly, the Hall of Fame coach told The Post on Friday. 

Pitino didn’t guarantee Smith would play against Harvard on Saturday, but he has practiced this week with the team and will be in uniform. 

“I talked with the team, the captains as well as the team. I said this is an issue you’re going to handle, not me,” Pitino said. “If I decide to play him, I’ll play him. If I don’t, I won’t. … He just reacted the wrong way, which players will do, and the team has told him that he can’t react that way and they made their stand. 

“I told the entire team, winning, losing, playing great, playing poorly, this is the standard we set. This is how we expect you to act, anybody who doesn’t act like that doesn’t play.”

Smith was benched for the final 13:18 of the loss to Georgia.

Afterwards, Pitino said he wanted to get more shooting into the game, which is why he went with Simeon Wilcher.

At one point late in the second half it looked like Smith was going to go back into the game, but Pitino sent him back to the bench.

They exchanged words and associate head coach Steve Masiello was seen speaking to Smith after the game. 

“It is 100 percent resolved,” Pitino said. “The only thing I will say is he did not act to the standards we put forth on our basketball team. … At St. John’s we have certain standards we expect from a St. John’s man, and that’s what I told all of them from the beginning. A St. John’s man is someone who is selfless, cares about his teammates more than himself because the whole image of St. John’s is lifting people out of poverty. People who go to St. John’s aren’t wealthy people. So we’ve set out standards as a St. John’s man and he didn’t act like a St. John’s man.”  

Smith has since apologized to the team and Pitino.

Part of his punishment has included extra early-morning weight-lifting sessions and organizing team activities in the St. John’s community, similar to what was assigned to RJ Luis when he kicked a ball into the stands in frustration in the season opener. 

“I considered a lot of options,” Pitino said. “But I believe in letting the team [handle it]. It’s their business, it’s their locker room, it’s their future at stake and we have great leaders on our team and they handled it.”