St. John’s basketball target Aidan Igiehon commits to Grand Canyon

St. John’s basketball transfer target Aidan Igiehon has committed to Grand Canyon. 

Long time St. John’s basketball recruit Aidan Igiehon has spurned the Red Storm once again, this time committing to Grand Canyon University.

Igiehon announced his decision via social media on Friday night as the Louisville transfer was being recruiting by St. John’s along with other power conference programs.

The Dublin, Ireland native nicknamed the ‘Irish Hulk’ had the Johnnies in his Top-4 schools during his high school recruitment but the Red Storm were then coached by Chris Mullin.

Head coach Mike Anderson and his staff tried to lure the 6-foot-10, 245 pound forward to Queens as a transfer but encountered the same result as the previous staff.

ALSO READ: St. John’s redshirt senior Rasheem Dunn enters transfer portal

Igiehon moved to Brooklyn, New York when he was 13-years-old and starred at Lawrence Woodmere Academy where he became a four-star prospect and the No. 55 player in the Class of 2019, No. 14 center, and No. 1 player in the state of New York, according to the 247 Sports Composite Rankings.

The Louisville transfer would have filled a tremendous need for St. John’s, which has seen a majority of its 2020-21 roster enter the transfer portal as the program already had a glaring hole at the center position prior to the offseason departures.

St. John’s basketball may have avoided a let down with Louisville transfer

There was a significant amount of hype surrounding Aidan Igiehon and potentially landing at St. John’s over the recent weeks, but the Johnnies might have dodged a bullet given the rising junior’s inability to stay on the court.

Igiehon only appeared in 18 games for the Cardinals over the course of two seasons as he dealt with various injuries and illnesses during his time in Bluegrass State.

Louisville head coach Chris Mack expressed his cautions with Igiehon stating that he was unready for Division I college basketball upon his arrival to campus through his work ethic and unfamiliarity with the game of basketball.

ALSO READ: St. John’s suffers massive departures due to transfer

Mack also expressed that the time spent on the sideline continued to hurt the prized prospect in his inability to get caught up to speed for high-level ACC basketball.

Aidan Igiehon was offered in high school by Vanderbilt and then head coach Scott Drew, who is now entering his season season as the head coach at Grand Canyon University.

The Antelopes won the Western Athletic Conference and appeared in its first NCAA Tournament this season.

St. John’s has added two transfers this offseason in Vermont’s Stef Smith and Purdue’s Aaron Wheeler and still has four open scholarships for the 2021-22 season.