St. John’s basketball to embark on foreign tour to Dominican Republic

The St. John’s basketball team will have an early start to the 2022-23 season. 

Mike Anderson said that one of the biggest issues with the St. John’s basketball team last season was the lack of continuity with his roster.

There were only three players that remained on the team from the season prior and the Red Storm added eight new players to the fold as the team could never seem to tighten up its substitution patterns and lineup combinations.

The Johnnies will have plenty of time to build its on court chemistry this offseason as the program retains seven scholarships players from last season, not including redshirt freshman Drissa Traore.

More importantly, St. John’s announced it will be going on a foreign tour to the Dominican Republic in August.

The tour is set to make stops in Santo Domingo, Santiago, and Punta Cana from August 11-19.

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St. John’s will play a total of three games, on dates yet to be determined, against the Dominican Republic’s Senior National Team and its U22 team.

“It’s the perfect opportunity for our team to get together before the academic year begins,” head coach Mike Anderson said.

“The bonding that results from extra practice days and games against high level competition will be very beneficial to this team.”

St. John’s has not taken a foreign tour since August 2013, but the program was scheduled to travel abroad in 2020 before the pandemic prevented the trip.

St. John’s basketball players with a chance to go home

The destination of traveling to the Dominican Republic should not be a surprise as the Red Storm roster has two players, Joel Soriano and David Jones, who call the island home.

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Jones, a transfer from DePaul, was born and raised in Santo Domingo and credits the large Dominican population in New York, and his relationship with Soriano, as two major reasons why he decided to transfer to St. John’s.

Joel Soriano and David Jones were teammates on the Dominican Republic U18 team during the FIBA U18 Americas Championship.