It was a tough offseason for St. John’s basketball guard Lefteris Liotopoulos, but his road has led him back to Queens and ready to make an impact with the Red Storm.
Liotopoulos decided to enter the transfer portal in April after two seasons with the Johnnies. Shortly after his decision, he underwent hernia surgery that kept him off the court for nearly four months, but then a conversation happened with Rick Pitino and Steve Masiello.
What Liotopoulos wanted was clear – more playing time and a more significant role – and Pitino and Masiello were willing to agree.
“In my heart, I always wanted to stay at St. John’s,” Liotopoulos said on Friday afternoon.
He withdrew from the portal, returned to St. John’s, and waited until he was healthy to get back to work.
In his first two seasons, ‘Lefty’ played in 55 games but averaged just 6.2 minutes per game.
“The main thing for me was playing time,” he continued about what he was looking for this offseason. “It was going to be my third year, and I just wanted to play. The first two years were tough for me, especially the first year.”
“Until my 18th birthday, I was playing 40 minutes in Greece and now I was playing, these two years, max ten [minutes].”
There were just ten total games where he received double digit minutes as a freshman and sophomore while he’s now played at least 14 minutes in each of St. John’s opening three games, most recently scoring 13 points off the bench in a 31-point win over Colgate.
“I feel like I can fill this role,” Liotopoulos added on being one of the first players off the bench with the Red Storm. “The glue guy that gets in and brings some more energy to the team. Get some shots up and try to help the team win. And I think I can do that.”
This season, he’s made 6-of-10 attempts from 3-point range.
“I’m one of the old guys here, so I think I can understand what coach wants when he screams…I know what he wants and what he wants for the team. And that’s to be great.”
He joked that he’s no longer the player that Rick Pitino yells at the most.
But while Lefteris Liotopoulos wanted a bigger role entering this season, his biggest goal remains being a part of a winning team and he worked as hard as possible when he got healthy to improve his game.
He wasn’t cleared to practice with the team until the fall, but when he returned to Greece in August, he worked as hard as possible to be ready.
“I fell behind,” he said of sitting the entire spring and summer. “I wasn’t with the guys when they were practicing…but it’s hard work and I’m confident in my work and I always believed in that.”
St. John’s will be taking a step up in competition over the next three weeks, beginning on Sunday against Syracuse, and Lefteris Liotopoulos is eager to prove that he not only belongs on the court but can make an impact for the Johnnies.
“I pushed through. I worked hard.”
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