'Selfless' Zuby Ejiofor makes St. John's Rick Pitino look smart
The first time he put Zuby Ejiofor through a workout, Rick Pitino knew he had found something special.
The 6-9 forward from Texas had put his name in the transfer portal after a freshman season at Kansas in which he played only five minutes a game. The St. John’s staff knew he’d been highly recruited out of high school when he picked the Jayhawks, but there was very little video from his first season of college basketball to understand what they might get.
So when Ejiofor came to campus for a visit, the Hall of Fame coach put him through one of his renowned player development sessions — and made it more challenging than most.
“First thing I noticed is he never complained about the drills,” Pitino said. “He went through it. Then he shot the ball really well. I said to his dad, I got myself a hell of a player here.”
There can be no doubt about it now. After playing only 11 minutes a game in his first season with the Red Storm, Ejiofor is having a season to remember. The latest feat came on Friday night when sixth-ranked and top-seeded St. John’s wore down and dispatched 25th-ranked and fifth-seeded Marquette for a 79-63 Big East Tournament semifinal victory at Madison Square Garden.
Ejiofor scored 23 of his 33 points in the second half, shot 11-for-15 from the field and had nine rebounds and three assists. The 33 points are the most by a St. John’s player in the conference tournament. Three had put up 29, Malik Sealy the last in 1992.
The last week in particular has been incredible for Ejiofor. It started last Saturday when he put in a one-hander before the overtime buzzer to beat Marquette in Milwaukee. On Sunday, he was selected to the all-Big East first team. And on Monday he was tabbed as the conference’s Most Improved Player of the Year.
About the only down moment was his four-point performance in the quarterfinal win over Butler on Thursday. But that set the stage for what he did to the Golden Eagles to propel St. John’s into its first tournament title game since it won it all in 2000.
“[Pitino] told me to come out and be a lot more aggressive than I [was] last game, and that’s exactly what I did,” Ejiofor said of his performance. “Coach P does a great job of challenging us to be better every single game. Now it’s on to the championship game, and we look forward to it.”
Perhaps the most important word in his answer is “we.” There have been a lot of things for him to talk about in the past week. His answers almost always come back to the team as a whole, their accomplishment and how the Red Storm are not just playing for themselves but also the community of fans who have been mostly starved for real success for the better part of a quarter-century.
It’s probably why the team unanimously elected him as a captain in October.
“Tonight my teammates were able to find me in situations where I could be successful,” Ejiofor said. “We want to be in these moments. We want to go into the NCAA Tournament.
“Individually I knew I had a bigger role to fill [after] backing up Joel [Soriano]. I want to thank Coach P and the staff for preparing me for these moments . . . and preparing me to do things that I did tonight.”
“Every coach wants to have a player like him: selfless, just cares about the team,” Pitino said. “You get blessed in coaching him. I’m coaching 50 years, and there are very few Zubys that come along that just think about the team. Whether he scores 33 or three, it’s all about the team. Every timeout, he’s saying something positive to the guys.”
“I’m super-happy for him, and he deserves everything coming to him,” RJ Luis Jr. said. “I’m just super-proud of him and all he’s done for us.”
Ejiofor’s game took a quantum leap from last season, when he averaged 4.3 points and 3.1 rebounds, to this one, in which he is averaging 14.4 points and 8.1 rebounds and leads the nation in offensive rebounding with 4.3 per game. But Pitino believes he is due to have another one between this season and next.
“The good thing about him is he’s had so much growth,” Pitino said. “By the end of the summer, I want him to be a knock-down shooter, play some power forward . . . improve his passing.”
To watch the Red Storm and the way they defend when they have a lead is something to behold. Their work ethic and toughness stand out. Pitino has said that all started with Ejiofor.
“I don’t know what was better, his play or his leadership tonight,” Pitino said. “They were both pretty extraordinary . . . [That’s] what St. John’s basketball should be about. It’s all about the team. They’re all about each other.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.