QUEENS, NY — A new season has dawned in Queens.
Coming off a historic 2024-2025 campaign where head coach Rick Pitino and the Red Storm took home both Big East Conference titles, winning the regular season outright and conference tournament championship at Madison Square Garden, St. John’s Men’s Basketball landed at fifth overall on the Associated Press’ Top 25 national preseason poll for the 2025-2026 season, which was released this past Monday—the highest preseason national ranking in program history.
A result of the pure talent and elite depth St. John’s features on paper.
Red Storm guard Dylan Darling speaking to the media Thursday afternoon during St. John’s Media Day at Carnesecca Arena – Image Credit: St. John’s Mens Basketball
Star big man Zuby Ejiofor returning for his senior year, along with Sadiku Ibine Ayo, a dynamic forward off the bench for Pitino since his days of coaching at Iona, as well as Ruben Prey and Lefteris Liotopoulos, each looking to ascend in their sophomore campaign and lastly, the most significant in it all, an arrival of 11 newcomers—seven transfers and four freshmen.
“We’ve had a lot of fun from the summer to now and that’s exciting,” Pitino said Thursday during St. John’s Media Day at Carnesecca Arena. “Great group of guys to work with, very passionate about learning and getting better. Multiple guys have really taken their games to a whole new level in the summer, which is also exciting.”
Among Red Storm names to look out for thus far in the early stages of live-action, two exhibition games ahead vs. Towson (10/18) and No. 7 ranked Michigan (10/25) prior to their regular season opener vs. Quinnipiac on November 3rd, while only focusing in on the transfers are Ian Jackson (North Carolina), Bryce Hopkins (Providence), Oziyah Sellers (Stanford), Dillon Mitchell (Cincinnati), Dylan Darling (Idaho State) and Joson Sanon (Arizona State).
“The coaches did a really good job with the players they recruited out of the portal, guys who are ready to come in, contribute and bring winning to our program,” noted Ejiofor, a catalyst in the Red Storm’s monumental 2024-2025 campaign, who is looking to embark on another historic year this season as the leader of the program on and off the court.
On Thursday during St. John’s Media Day, Red Storm star big man Zuby Ejiofor had high praise for the program’s offseason work in adding talent through the transfer portal – Image Credit: St. John’s Mens Basketball
“We all want to go to the Final Four,” he added. “We all want to be national champions, especially with it being our last year. Me, Bryce (Hopkins), Dylan (Darling), Oziyah (Sellers), the list goes on.”
“We know exactly what it takes, and everybody needs to be committed to the ups and downs of a whole season.”
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