Head coach Rick Pitino has St. John’s basketball peaking at the right time, and it all starts with the leader.
Zuby Ejiofor is one of the main reasons behind the success of the Red Storm. Not just throughout the regular season, in which the team went 27-4, but as St. John’s look to be the Big East’s best contender in the NCAA Tournament.
Pitino broke down what makes Ejiofor special, following the junior forward’s 33-point outing in Friday’s semifinal victory over Marquette, per Zach Gelb on X, formerly Twitter.
“When Zuby came in I put him through a hard player development session,” Pitino said. “First thing I noticed, he never complained about the drills, he went through it, and then he shot the ball really well. And I said to his dad, I said I got myself a hell of a player here. Every coach wants to have a player like him. Selfless, just cares about the team. You get blessed in coaching 50 years, there are very few Zubys that come along that just think about the team. Whether he scores 33 or 3, it’s all about the team. Every timeout, he’s saying something positive to the guys, and we’re lucky we got him back again, and we’re lucky to have him. He’s our captain.”
“Every coach wants to have a player like him.”- Rick Pitino on Zuby Ejiofor.
Awesome to chat with @RealPitino about the journey of @Zubyejiofor. @EdKullStJohnsAD @WFAN660 @InfSportsNet pic.twitter.com/6XXzmKiHyc
— Zach Gelb (@ZachGelb) March 15, 2025
St. John’s will face Creighton for the Big East final on Saturday at Madison Square Garden, with Pitino and Co. in position to bring home the fourth conference title in program history.
How St. John’s basketball matches up against Creighton
After defeating Marquette for the second time in a week, St. John’s basketball will now try to finish the job before it finds out where it will land on Selection Sunday.
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