St. John's basketball fans serenade Zuby Ejiofor following missed clutch free throws

New York fans show its players tough love often. They know when to jeer you and they know when to cheer you. The St. John’s basketball faithful that made the trip to the Bahamas are no different.

As the Red Storm were warming up prior to its game against Virginia on Friday night, Johnnie fans took their seats at the Baha Mar Championship and chants started to ring out.

“Zu-by! Zu-by! Zu-by!”

They were encouraging the Red Storm captain, Zuby Ejiofor, after he missed two free throws on Thursday night in double overtime against Baylor that could have put the game out of reach. Instead, Bears guard Jeremy Roach hit a controversial buzzer beating 3-pointer that won the game.

Ejiofor was dejected and emotional all night.

“When your only at a job for one year, you search for things that you love about a place and tonight I found out what I loved about St. John’s since being here,” head coach Rick Pitino said during the opening statement of his press conference.

“To see the fans chanting ‘Zuby!’…that doesn’t happen anywhere in America.”

The chants continued all night from the large St. John's contingent as Ejiofor went for eight points and nine rebounds. The Red Storm outscored Virginia by 34 points when he was on the floor in the 80-55 victory.

“It was a surprise to me, my family,” Ejiofor said. “I felt good. I want to thank the fans of St. John’s for making me feel good and making me feel warm inside…there’s not a lot of programs that’s going to do that.”

The missed free throws put a damper on what was a great night of 22 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocks.

“Obviously, last night was really emotional for me. To come out like that and chant my name and make me feel good before tipoff, I couldn’t play anywhere else.”

Other St. John’s players joined in on the chants from its fanbase, including RJ Luis, who is Ejiofor’s roommate, and encouraged him on Thursday night to put the mistakes behind him and move forward.

“I don’t think he knew how to take it the right way, but it was good to see,” Luis joked.

No. 22 St. John’s (5-1) will play one more game in the Bahamas against Georgia on Sunday morning (11:00 a.m. ET, CBS Sports Network) before heading back to New York for nearly a week off.