UConn forward Jaylin Stewart to miss St. John’s game

The UConn men’s basketball team will be without a key rotation player for Wednesday’s top-15 matchup against St. John’s.

Jaylin Stewart, the 6-foot-7 junior wing, is out with right knee inflammation. He is considered day-to-day, according to a team representative.

Stewart had seen the court in all 28 games this season, averaging 4.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists on 17.7 minutes per game. He is shooting 44.8% from the field and 34.7% from beyond the arc.

“Typical bangs, bumps and bruises,” coach Dan Hurley said when speaking with local media Tuesday, acknowledging that there would likely be at least one name on the availability report. “We’ll see how people feel tomorrow and we’ll go from there.”

The loss of Stewart comes at a critical time ahead of the battle for first place in the Big East. UConn enters the game one loss behind St. John’s in the league standings.

His absence will likely require a heavier load on classmate Jayden Ross, who has been identified as a go-to wing defender off the bench. UConn’s bigger lineup will be critical against Rick Pitino’s squad, which features three forwards in the starting lineup and gave the Huskies trouble when they met at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 7.

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“It’s essential that the bench steps up because you never know what’s going to happen,” Ross said Tuesday. “We might have a guy banged up a little bit, and regardless, that’s something that we’ve talked about from the beginning, being one of our key parts. Just being able to have depth and bring that every single game. Guys being hurt or whatever it is and just being able to rotate guys in, guys getting tired on the court, okay, get him out and be able to maintain that level is really crucial for us.”

Wednesday’s game at PeoplesBank Arena is set to tip-off at 7 p.m. on Peacock and NBC Sports Network.