MIAMI – After last night’s huge Big East showdown with Miami, St. John’s has just five regular-season games to make its case for a NCAA bid.

And the Red Storm will have to play them without wayward swingman Alpha Bangura, who coach Mike Jarvis announced will remain part of the team but won’t practice or play again this season.

“He’s still a member of the program,” Jarvis said. “He’s still on scholarship, and he still has to do all the things everybody else has to do to keep his scholarship: study halls, mandatory meetings, skills-for-life meetings. But he’s not going to play or practice for the remainder of the season. [I’m] trying to teach him the necessary life skills that have to be taught about work.

“Hopefully he’ll learn some things and correct some things, and not ever put himself in position to lose a job,” Jarvis said. “Everybody has to be accountable. When it comes time for me to make a decision on renewing the scholarships, Alpha will be like everybody else. Every kid goes through an evaluation. The reason I took the time I took was to try to do the right thing for everyone.”

Bangura was averaging 5.6 points and 2.2 rebounds this season, but started just five times and averaged only 15.8 minutes per game. When injuries set in, and Jarvis bypassed Bangura in favor of walk-on Andre Stanley, the 6-foot-4 junior became vexed with his lack of playing time. He missed the Feb. 3 game at Virginia Tech while contemplating leaving the program.

Bangura eventually decided he wanted to return, and after gauging the mood of the team, Jarvis decided to let Bangura keep his scholarship – provided he meets requirements – but won’t let him play again this season. He’ll re-assess the situation by June to decide if he’ll renew Bangura’s scholarship for next season.

“Since we were talking about one of the members of the family, it was important to meet as a group,” Jarvis said. “As head of the household, I’d make the final decision, but because I respect them, I wanted to hear what they were feeling.

“They had very different opinions, different views. It was not an Alpha Bangura-bashing session. There were guys on the team that felt very strongly one way or another. It was up to me to put it all together.”

Swingman Willie Shaw’s return from injury layoff should lessen the loss of Bangura.