On Thursday, Mikey Dixon decided to transfer from the St. John’s Red Storm, which leaves playing time open for another young guard.
The St. John’s Red Storm have been known to be a school that picks up a lot of transfers under head coach Chris Mullin. Sometimes in the case of Justin Simon and Marvin Clark II, they work out. Other times, the fit just isn’t there and that appeared to be the case for former Quinnipiac guard Mikey Dixon.
On Thursday, Evan Daniels of 247 Sports and FOX Sports reported that Dixon will be transferring from St. John’s and be going to his third different school:
Source: St. John's sophomore guard Mikey Dixon is transferring. Averaged 5.9 PPG, while shooting 43% from 3 in 17.4 minutes a game.
— Evan Daniels (@EvanDaniels) January 3, 2019
When St. John’s landed Dixon, it was thought that he could be the player that helped lead the second unit and help spell Shamorie Ponds on occasion. However, he has played just seven combined minutes in the first two games of the Big East season and he had 25 points in the last five games.
Now, the Dixon transfer doesn’t necessarily hurt the team this season because the Red Storm have relied a lot on their starters. All but two of their points were scored by the starting five in Tuesday’s upset win over Marquette.
With that being said, with Ponds likely to leave for the NBA next year, there could be a hole for the Red Storm at guard next year behind Simon and Mustapha Heron (if he decides to stay). They also have Eli Wright, who will be eligible next year after transferring from Mississippi State and David Caraher (transferring from Houston Baptist).
As for this year’s team, the Dixon transfer leaves the door open for Greg Williams Jr. to get more of an opportunity to play. The freshman from Louisiana has only played double-digit minutes in three games, but he has shown good things when he gets an opportunity to play.
It may be a small sample size (15 shots), but Williams Jr. is shooting 66.7 percent from the floor and he can be a factor defensively with his 6-foot-2 frame. With minutes up for grabs, he is likely to get more of an opportunity than Bryan Trimble Jr., who is known more for his perimeter jump shot.
This transfer does hurt St. John’s in terms of depth at the guard position going forward in case someone gets hurt — remember Marcus Lovett did a season ago. However, it does give Mullin and his staff an opportunity to see how some of the young players can do in some of these tough games in a competitive Big East.
