Another week, another St. John’s controversy.
St. John’s head coach Steve Lavin announced Saturday that junior big man Chris Obekpa has been removed from the starting lineup indefinitely as a result of his flagrant 2 foul committed against Butler’s Tyler Wideman on Tuesday. Obekpa has started all 22 games for the Red Storm this season, averaging 6.8 points and a team-high 7.6 rebounds. He ranks third in the nation with 3.4 blocks per game.
It remains to be seen how far into today’s game against Creighton at Madison Square Garden Obekpa will enter the game.
“I spoke with Tyler last night and sincerely apologized for the poor sportsmanship that I demonstrated in our game earlier this week,” said Obekpa. “In the heat of competition I lost my composure and my actions are regrettable. I let my team down, and will learn from this incident to better represent St John’s moving forward.”
“We are disappointed with Chris’ poor judgment and thankful it did not cause a serious injury to Tyler,” said Lavin. “Our student athletes are held to the highest standards of sportsmanship and personal conduct. Chris realizes he let our team down and will learn from this unfortunate incident. Chris can work toward earning his starting spot back down the line, but for now he has lost the privilege.”
Last week, St. John’s dealt with a controversy surrounding a homophobic tweet by sophomore guard Rysheed Jordan, who later deleted the Tweet and apologized.
