St. John’s basketball lands impact transfer David Jones from DePaul

The St. John’s basketball program has landed another impact transfer. 

After a disappointing 2021-22 season, it has been an impressive offseason for head coach Mike Anderson and the St. John’s basketball program.

The Johnnies are one of only a handful of programs not to lose a scholarship player to the transfer portal and have added two of the best players in the portal, Andre Curbelo and David Jones.

Jones is the newest member of the Red Storm after announcing his commitment to join the program on Monday afternoon.

The 6-foot-6 wing stared at DePaul last season and becomes the second player ever to transfer within the Big East Conference. The conference amended the rule last offseason which stated players could not transfer to another school within the league.

UConn’s Corey Floyd became the first player to transfer within the league after his commitment to Providence after a redshirt freshman season with the Huskies.

ALSO READ: St. John’s hits home run in transfer portal with Andre Curbelo

As for David Jones, he immediately brings another level of firepower to a St. John’s team which lost its top two offensive threats to the professional ranks this offseason, Julian Champagnie and Aaron Wheeler.

Jones averaged 14.5 points per game as a sophomore, shooting 44.5-percent from the field, at DePaul after only playing in nine games with the Blue Demons as a freshman.

The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native also posted 7.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.0 blocks per contest and should fit seamlessly into Anderson’s system in Queens.

However, Jones only shot 29.7-percent from 3-point range and 69.2-percent from the free throw line last season.

Newest St. John’s basketball forward already with tight connections

David Jones already has some deep connections on the Red Storm roster as he is close friends with Illinois transfer Andre Curbelo and played internationally with center Joel Soriano on the Dominican Republic U18 team.

ALSO READ: St. John’s stars earn local postseason honors

Jones could easily start on opening night for St. John’s and still has three years of eligibility remaining.

The pieces are in place for St. John’s to return to the NCAA Tournament, which would be the first under head coach Mike Anderson, but the optimism comes with a grain of salt after the team fell way short of expectations a season ago.