The St. John’s basketball team has become very close over the course of the season, and it has shown with its play on the court, winning a Big East regular season championship and knocking on the door of the Top-5 teams in the nation.
However, the togetherness translates away from the court too.
Red Storm role player Sadiku Ibine Ayo, who has been getting more minutes over the last two weeks, must fast for Ramadan as required by his Muslim faith. He cannot eat during the month of March between sunrise and sunset and must wake up around 3:50 a.m. ET every day to pray and eat.
It’s a major challenge considering the intensity of Rick Pitino’s practices but Ibine Ayo, who is in his third season playing for Pitino, has become accustomed to it.
“We practice very hard and he’s trying to make sure he doesn’t kill me like that,” Ibine Ayo said over Zoom on Friday morning. Pitino will make sure to have a substitution ready if he needs it or sometimes practice him hard for 45 minutes before letting him watch the rest.
Ibine Ayo is not even allowed to have water during the fast, but it’s something he has done his entire life.
Pitino talked with him about his religious situation prior to the start of the month and joked if he could convert to Catholicism for the month in order to prevent the fast. He even mentioned it on his appearance during The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, but it didn’t make the final cut of the show.
“All you have to do is not eat meat on Friday,” he recalled of his chat with Ibine Ayo. “You can drink and eat as much as you want the rest of the days and then, even after the game, you can have a beer, listen to as much music as you want.”
“I’ll do anything for you,” Ibine Ayo said in response. “But I can’t do that.”
But the two compromised and Pitino will be aiding Sadiku Ibine Ayo in his fast by working out early in the mornings, not eating during the day, and – perhaps the hardest part for Pitino – not swearing.
"He prays at 4:30 in the morning, and I told him every time our guys take a jumpshot I will pray."
So far Pitino has held up his end of the bargain, but it will be tested when the No. 6 Johnnies (26-4, 17-2 Big East) close the regular season on the road against No. 20 Marquette (22-8, 13-6 Big East) on Saturday afternoon (12:00 p.m. ET, FOX) in Milwaukee.
The solidarity in fasting for Ramadan even translated to some of the St. John’s players who are not Muslim like Kadary Richmond, Aaron Scott, and Jaiden Glover.
Pitino, is a much more serious tone, did not like that they attempted to fast this week.
“They should never, ever do that again,” he said. “That should never be done for an athlete to do that. He’s doing it for religious purposes.”
“You’re not helping Sadku by doing that and you’re also hurting the team and your own practice skills. You can’t do that. You can’t go through practice without water.”
Still, Ibine Ayo appreciated his teammates support.
“It means the world to me. Just shows the togetherness we have as a team.”
The Ramadan fast also includes listening to music, which St. John’s players have refrained from doing in the locker room when Ibine Ayo is around – even after winning the Big East championship last week against Seton Hall.
“It goes to show that he’s very disciplined,” Kadary Richmond said about Ibine Ayo, who is his roommate when the team travels on the road. “He doesn’t have much distractions going on, he doesn’t lose focus.”
St. John’s will hope Sadiku Ibine Ayo has to manage his fasting around games and practices for the entire month as it plans on a deep NCAA Tournament run.