St. John's lands Stanford's Oziyah Sellers from transfer portal

Stanford guard Oziyah Sellers during a game against Oregon in the San Jose Tip-Off in San Jose, Calif., on Dec. 21, 2024. Credit: AP/Jeff Chiu
St. John’s got its first dividend from last weekend’s parade of recruits when Stanford transfer Oziyah Sellers committed to join the Red Storm Wednesday.
Sellers is part of coach Rick Pitino’s offseason mission to improve last season’s biggest weakness: shooting. The 6-5 guard made 40% of his three-point attempts and averaged 13.7 points in his junior season with the Cardinal.
And, as it turns out, Pitino figured prominently in Sellers’ offseason mission.
“In any conversation, coach Pitino is pretty much the greatest coach of all-time — I wanted to play for him,” Sellers told Newsday in a phone interview. “I want to go out the way I want to go out: I want to win a national championship.”
NEW EYES OF THE STORM
Departures
RJ Luis Jr. (declared for the NBA Draft)
Brady Dunlap (Committed to St. Louis)
Jaiden Glover
Khaman Maker
Arrivals
Bryce Hopkins (from Providence)
Joson Sanon (from Arizona State)
Oziyah Sellers (from Stanford)
“Playing for him was a big part of this [decision],” he added. “And then hearing his plan for me? I knew this was something I wanted to be a part of.”
Sellers said he’d planned to visit other schools but decided not to after his trip to New York.
He is the third transfer to commit to St. John’s this offseason, joining Providence forward Bryce Hopkins and Arizona State wing Joson Sanon.
Over a four-day stretch that included the weekend, St. John’s had visits from Sellers, North Carolina guard Ian Jackson, Princeton point guard Xaivian Lee, Cincinnati forward Dillon Mitchell and blue-chip point guard Acaden Lewis.
The Storm hoped Lee might replace Kadary Richmond and Deivon Smith as their starting point guard, but he opted to commit to national champion Florida Wednesday night, choosing the Gators over St. John’s and Kansas, he announced on social media.
Sellers said that during his visit he did a workout for Pitino where the focus was — almost exclusively — shooting.
“We are super excited to have Oziyah in our program,” Pitino said in a school statement. “Not only does he bring great experience and tremendous outside shooting but his workout on his visit was incredible.
“Oziyah has terrific size and an unbelievable attitude. He’s a great addition for Johnnies Basketball this season.”
The Storm’s biggest flaw this season was three-point shooting — it made 30%, which ranked in the bottom 5% of Division I. They overcame that with defense and rebounding to win the outright Big East regular-season title and the Big East Tournament. The Storm (31-5) lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Arkansas in a game where it went 2-for-22 on threes.
“Last year they kind of lacked shooting and that’s something they want to bring up this year,” Sellers said. “They are definitely bringing me in for that, but they also want me to play-make in other ways.”
Sellers spent this past season at Stanford after playing his first two at Southern Cal. There, he was teammates and roommates with Storm center Vince Iwuchukwu, who transferred in the last offseason. That didn’t hurt St. John’s efforts to bring in Sellers.
“Vince, that’s my brother,” Sellers said. “Him already being there, I kind of got the inside scoop on what it’s like and he had nothing but good things to say . . . He told me coach Pitino pushes his guys and gets the most out of them. Going into my senior year, I feel like that’s something I need.”
Asked about Pitino’s defense-first philosophy, Sellers called that part of his game “the area that people might say I lack, or might not even notice about my game. But, especially going into my senior year, that’s something I want to showcase more of.”
He’d never been to New York before and only knew the legend of Madison Square Garden, but seeing the World’s Most Famous Arena made an impression.
“Seeing the Garden — it was crazy,” he said. “It’s pretty much every kid’s dream to play in there. And then just stepping in there? You could feel all the history coming out. I am super excited I’ll get to be playing there.”