#Joel Soriano, Tareq Coburn to miss St. John’s vs. Butler with COVID

St. John’s won’t just be without its leading scorer in Thursday’s Big East opener. Following Julian Champagnie’s positive COVID-19 test last Friday, two more Johnnies — forward Joel Soriano and guard Tareq Coburn — tested positive on Wednesday, sources told The Post.

And so, St. John’s will have only eight scholarship players available against Butler unless Mike Anderson chooses to burn the redshirt of freshman forward Drissa Traore. That would give it a ninth player.

As of now the game is still on, as the league stipulates teams have to play conference games if they have seven healthy scholarship players. St. John’s won Monday’s game over Seton Hall via forfeit as the Pirates didn’t have enough players to play.

St. John’s is coming off an ugly loss to under-.500 Pittsburgh at the Garden in which the absence of Champagnie, who is asymptomatic, was felt. It will have even more obstacles to overcome on Thursday now.