St. John's Zuby Ejiofor excited to see what incoming transfer class can bring to Red Storm
St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino talks to forward Zuby Ejiofor against the Creighton Bluejaysin the first half of the Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament Final at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, March 15, 2025. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Zuby Ejiofor enjoyed the recent St. John’s basketball season as much as anyone. He was the main holdover from the previous season and saw coach Rick Pitino spend the offseason bringing in a group of standouts who helped catapult the Red Storm to their finest season in decades. They won 31 games, captured the Big East regular season and tournament titles and made the NCAA Tournament.
During the month since St. John’s season ended with a disappointing NCAA Tournament second-round loss, Ejiofor has watched Pitino and his staff remake the roster through the NCAA transfer portal to create something even better. The Red Storm look as if they could be a constellation of stars next season with the top-ranked transfer class, according to 247sports.com, and virtually every national outlet pegging them to begin the season nationally ranked in the Top 10.
“It’s truly special,” Ejiofor said on Thursday night at the 92nd Haggerty Award All-Metropolitan Dinner in Tarrytown. “We had a lot of big moves in the portal to get those talented guys to come aboard . . . We did some really special things this past season and we just want to build up on that and just have a chance at the national title.”
Ejiofor knew other programs wanted him but never considered leaving Pitino or St. John’s because he understood what was about to unfold.
“It’s my final year in college, that’s why I’m back,” he said. “I feel like I have one more special year in me to be a national champion. And I’m pretty sure . . . that’s everybody else’s mindset as well. And you could tell it’s the coaching staff’s mindset as well. We all want to win.”
All of the incoming transfers — Ian Jackson from North Carolina, Bryce Hopkins from Providence, Joson Sanon from Arizona State, Oziyah Sellers from Stanford, Dillon Mitchell from Cincinnati and Dylan Darling from Idaho State — worked out for Pitino when they visited the program. Ejiofor was involved in a number of those workouts and gave some first impressions of what he saw.
Here’s what he said:
Of Sellers: “He’s probably one of the best three-point shooters in the country, in my opinion. He just came in, he did the workout and he just blew the [projected] numbers immediately.”
Of Mitchell: “He’s a really athletic guy that could get out in transition. He’s a really special player.”
Of Sanon: “Another great, great shooter. We now have a lot of great shooters, and that was the main focal point for the season.”
And of Hopkins, who played only 17 games the past two seasons because of a knee injury: “We already know what he brings to the table, being a first-team all-leaguer [in 2022-23]. He worked out as well. He was doing fine.”
Pitino said in a social media post that Jackson, who many believe will be a 2026 NBA first-round pick, is “our next great point [guard].”
Ejiofor understands that making a group of players who had never worn the same uniform great doesn’t happen in an instant. He was in Pitino’s first recruiting class, and that 2023-24 team wasn’t great until the final stretch of the season. They did it far better this past season, though there were some early stumbles.
“It’s almost a whole team rebuild, so it’s going to take a little while to get everybody’s tendencies going, [but] I think we’ll be a really special team next season,” he said. “They’re guys with good character, not just special abilities on the court.
“These are guys that are ready to come into a winning program . . . [and] build up on this previous season,” Ejiofor added. “St. John’s was becoming a national story this past season and these guys want to have that feeling . . . and I’m all for it. I’ll be right there guiding them . . . but we’re all pretty committed.”
Ejiofor acknowledged that seeing the teammates who transferred out — Simeon Wilcher, Brady Dunlap, Vince Iwuchukwu, Jaiden Glover and Khaman Maker — is a fact of life in today’s game.
“Those are my boys for life,” Ejiofor said. “We did some great things this past season, and whatever is in their future, I’m right there to support them 100%.”
When Ejiofor was asked about the preseason projections of St. John’s starting the season high in the national rankings, he demurred.
“I don’t think a whole lot of it. We’ve got a whole lot of work to do,” he said. “It’s a full team reset . . . We have to mesh well together, especially in this offseason. It’s good recognition, but we have a whole lot of work to [do].”
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.
