St. John’s basketball lands first commitment under Rick Pitino

St. John’s basketball has landed its first commitment under head coach Rick Pitino. 

It took nearly three weeks but the St. John’s basketball program and head coach Rick Pitino are on the board in the transfer portal.

The Red Storm landed Iona transfer guard Daniss Jenkins on Thursday afternoon after missing on a handful of prospects, including Walter Clayton Jr., Jenkins’ teammate at Iona, who committed to Florida earlier this week.

Jenkins was named to the All-MAAC Second Team this season after averaging 15.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 41.8-percent from the floor and 36.1-percent from 3-point range.

“Just let me be great,” Jenkins said on social media in his announcement post.

The 6-foot-3 guard should headline the St. John’s backcourt, which will continue to add more talent this offseason, after the departure of every guard on the roster from a season ago.

ALSO READ: Walter Clayton Jr. picks Florida over Red Storm

Jenkins registered 14 points, five assists, and four steals in Iona’s loss to UConn in the Round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament after he poured in 27 points on 6-of-9 shooting from 3-point range in the MAAC Championship.

The Dallas, Texas native joins Joel Soriano, Drissa Traore, and Mohamed Keita on the current version of the Red Storm.

St. John’s basketball starting to find footing in transfer portal

The expectation is that Daniss Jenkins will graduate from Iona and become a graduate transfer which will allow him to be immediately eligible to play at St. John’s next season.

Under the new NCAA transfer rules, Jenkins would have to sit out a season if he is not a graduate transfer because St. John’s will be the fourth school of his college career after spending two seasons at Pacific before transferring to Odessa College, a standout JUCO program.

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Jenkins did not sit out after his transfer from Odessa to Iona and if he were not a graduate transfer he would need a waiver from the NCAA to become immediately eligible next year.

St. John’s is also interested in Iona transfers Cruz Davis and Quinn Slazinski as Rick Pitino looks to fill out the remainder of the Red Storm roster.

Davis will visit Queens this weekend, along with Harvard transfer Chris Ledlum and VMI transfer Sean Conway, while Slazinski will be on campus next week, according to multiple reports.