Oziyah Sellers does not have much experience playing point guard in his career but that’s not stopping him from taking the reins as the primary ball handler for the St. John’s basketball team this season.
Sellers was simply sensational in the role during the Red Storm’s intrasquad scrimmage on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, finishing with 30 points, five rebounds, seven assists, and one turnover.
He saw his offensive output come without attempting a free throw, making 12-of-17 attempts from the field and 6-of-8 from 3-point range.
“Oziyah is the point guard and Dylan [Darling] is the backup point guard,” Rick Pitino said at halftime of the scrimmage. “[Sellers] is just bringing the ball up, but then once he brings it up, he passes and it’s all motion.”
However, the idea of the Stanford transfer playing point guard was not at the forefront of Pitino’s mind during the spring. Sellers explained that the Hall of Famer came to him during the summer to see how open he would be to trying the position.
Sellers’ response was simple, and he would be willing to do anything to help the team.
“I’m here to do whatever you need me to do,” he recalled. “So, if that’s playing point guard, if that’s playing the five, I’ll go play the five.”
“I feel like I’ve been getting a lot more comfortable at point guard,” he said after mentioning that he hasn’t played the position since AAU basketball and that was because his team only had five players.
“He’s really comfortable in his role. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He knows exactly what he brings to the table,” Zuby Ejiofor said about Sellers.
Known for his shooting, Sellers connected on 40.1-percent of his attempts last season with the Cardinal and averaged a career-high in assists, although it was a moderate 1.3 per game.
“I’m confident in all my abilities, obviously, I want to continue to get my ball handling a lot stronger and sharper but I’m confident as a basketball player that I’ll be able to hold my own,” Sellers stated.
Even with the anointing of Oziyah Sellers as the team’s point guard, an emphasis was placed on the entire team having the ability to push the ball up the floor – including North Carolina transfer Ian Jackson after it was assumed he would be the lead ball handler for St. John’s after his commitment.
The Red Storm want to play fast, and they will get to show the rest of the country what they have been working on beginning on Saturday, October 18 in an exhibition game against Towson (2:00 p.m. ET, ESPN+).