St. John’s basketball center Mohamed Keita to surprisingly transfer

St. John’s basketball backup center Mohamed Keita is surprisingly transferring. 

It became clear when Rick Pitino was named as the head coach of the St. John’s basketball program that he would retain only three players from last year’s team; Joel Soriano, Drissa Traore, and Mohamed Keita.

Well, that changed on Friday afternoon when Keita announced he was entering the transfer portal.

Keita, a seldom used freshman under Mike Anderson who suffered a knee injury in the middle of the regular season, played in just seven games and logged 24 total minutes as he recorded six points, no rebounds, an assist, and two blocks during that time.

“I want to thank the St. John’s coaching staff for the opportunity to play for such a historic program and believing in my abilities,” Keita wrote on social media.

“I want to thank my teammates for pushing me to reach my highest potential.”

St. John’s is still looking for a center to play behind Soriano and it has yet to land a player in the transfer portal so the announcement from the 7-foot-1 freshman came as a surprise.

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Mo Keita became the ninth St. John’s player to enter the transfer portal, joining Posh Alexander, Dylan Addae-Wusu, AJ Storr, Andre Curbelo, O’Mar Stanley, Kolby King, David Jones, and Rafael Pinzon.

St. John’s basketball center gathering interest from multiple programs

Mohamed Keita told The Portal Report that he has received interest from Fordham, South Florida, New Mexico State, Albany, UPenn, Costal Carolina, Nevada, Bryant, Fairfield, Arkansas State, Jacksonville, Bucknell, and Marist.

“To Johnnie Nation, I appreciate the love and support that you all expressed to me this season and during my time in Queens,” Keita continued.

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“What that being said, I will be entering my name in to the transfer portal.”

Players have until May 11 to enter the transfer portal in order to remain immediately eligible for next season.