St. John’s basketball completes roster with Kansas transfer Zuby Ejiofor

The St. John’s basketball program filled out its roster with Kansas transfer Zuby Ejiofor. 

The hard work for Rick Pitino and the St. John’s basketball coaching staff is over.

Now, it’s time to play ball.

Pitino and the Red Storm filled its final vacant scholarship on Monday with Kansas transfer Zuby Ejiofor, who picked the Johnnies over Villanova.

Ejiofor, a 6-foot-9, 240 pound forward, did not see much time on the floor in his only season with the Jayhawks after averaging just 5.2 minutes per contest in 25 games played while also posting 1.2 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 0.6 blocks per game.

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The Garland, Texas native was ranked as a four-star prospect coming out of high school and the No. 57 recruit in the nation, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

Zuby Ejiofor visited St. John’s over the weekend and the expectations is that he will play at the power forward position as well as filling in as the backup center when superstar Joel Soriano needs a breather.

“Zuby [Ejiofor] is a quality athlete, basketball player and person,” Pitino said in a statement.

“He is an outstanding defensive player who is really going to bolster our front court.”

St. John’s basketball roster officially complete

Zuby Ejiofor completes a transfer recruiting class comprised of Iona’s Daniss Jenkins, Cruz Davis, Quinn Slazinski, and Sadiku Ibine Ayo, UConn’s Nahiem Alleyne, VMI’s Sean Conway, Oregon State’s Glenn Taylor Jr., UMass’ RJ Luis, and Penn’s Jordan Dingle.

St. John’s also added four-star wing Brady Dunlap while only retaining Soriano and Drissa Traore from last year’s roster.

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The expectations are quickly growing in Queens as Rick Pitino has filled out his roster and it’s to reach the NCAA Tournament the first season under the Hall of Fame coach, which St. John’s has not done since 2019 and hasn’t made the Round of 64 since 2015.

The newly added players are expected to arrive on campus in the summer for workouts before official practice begins in the fall.