CHICAGO — For weeks, Kadary Richmond’s groin has been barking.

It’s been sore. It’s been bothersome. But it hasn’t stopped the Seton Hall transfer from being at his best.

That trend continued Wednesday night.

Despite being at less than 100 percent, Richmond ensured No. 10 St. John’s wouldn’t struggle against Big East doormat DePaul despite the absence of leading scorer RJ Luis.

In 29 impactful minutes, Richmond controlled the game, leading the first-place Johnnies to an 82-58 rout of the Blue Demons inside Wintrust Arena and helping them inch ever closer to the program’s first outright regular-season Big East crown since the 1984-85 season. They lead No. 16 Marquette and Creighton by two games in the loss column with four games remaining.

“I think Kadary is probably a little annoyed with people thinking he doesn’t play through the pain, so he’s playing through it,” coach Rick Pitino said of his star guard. “He practices hard every day, takes hard coaching every day the right way.”

Richmond was nearly flawless in St. John’s 12th win in 13 games, notching 17 points, nine rebounds, five assists and zero turnovers. He shrugged off the injury, saying “I’m all right.”

He had help from the now-healthy Deivon Smith, who added 18 points and five assists. They were dynamic together, the speedy, uber-athletic Smith and the shifty and more methodical Richmond. Smith hit three 3-pointers, a key part of the Red Storm’s strong night from downtown. Richmond did his thing in the paint, creating for himself and others.

This was the plan when St. John’s (23-4, 14-2) landed the talented guards back in May in the span of 24 hours, for these two playmakers to thrive next to one another.

There have been only glimpses of it. But as March nears, and St. John’s continues to stack victories, it appears to be clicking.

“Everything takes time. We’re starting to mesh well together, playing off each other,” Richmond said. “That’s what it took, some time to get adjusted to each other.”

Zuby Ejiofor added 13 points, nine rebounds and two blocks and Sadiku Ibine Ayo, starting in place of Luis, who was out with a groin injury, had a career-high 15 points and tallied five rebounds and two assists. Ruben Prey chipped in four points and eight rebounds.

It was a strong performance, considering the Johnnies were shorthanded. Reserves Vince Iwuchukwu (illness) and Jaiden Glover (wrist) were also out, leaving St. John’s with nine healthy players.

“The thing I’m really, really happy with is they’re taking the 3 now and not counting misses, and that’s taking a leap for us,” Pitino said of St. John’s, which shot 9-for-21 from deep. “Not only making them, but taking them the right way. It was a pleasure to see that tonight, the way we shot it, the way we played, the way we rebounded. We did a lot of really good things being an injured basketball team.”

Richmond was in the middle of it all, as he has been since the start of the new year. Dating back to Jan. 2, the senior is averaging 14.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.4 steals.

Despite the groin issue, he hasn’t missed any practice time. But that will change ahead of Sunday’s game against Connecticut. He has earned a few days off.

“Tonight he’s on a bad groin and plays almost 29 minutes, nine rebounds, five assists, no turnovers,” Pitino said. “I mean, he’s been brilliant, RJ and him both should be the leaders for [Big East] Player of the Year. Sometimes it hurts you a little, because they take away votes [when you have two contenders on the same team], but both of those guys are deserving. And now getting Deivon back and healthy is a big lift for us as well.”