Vince Iwuchukwu hit a buzzer beater on Tuesday night but not one the St. John’s basketball program would have liked to see.
The 7-footer announced he would be entering the transfer portal just hours before the deadline in which the paperwork had to be submitted to the NCAA before the portal closed.
Iwuchukwu’s decision comes as a bit of a surprise after he refuted a report that surfaced earlier in the month saying he would transfer and commented on his social media that he was “not leaving” St. John’s.
He was also at the forefront of the Red Storm’s appearance at Citi Field two weeks ago when New York Mets honored the team for its Big East championships this season.
“I’m expecting Vince, Ruben [Prey] and [Lefteris Liotopoulos] in the second season to make great strides,” Rick Pitino said during the event. “Vince is going to get a lot better with ball handling on the perimeter and a little bit with his passing.”
However, all things are fluid in the offseason world of the transfer portal and St. John’s continued pursuit of Cincinnati transfer Dillon Mitchell could have changed Iwuchukwu’s mind.
There were already going to be a limited number of minutes available at center this season for the Johnnies after the return of Zuby Ejiofor, who could be the Big East Preseason Player of the Year. The potential addition of Mitchell as well as the expected sophomore jump from Ruben Prey would create a logjam behind Ejiofor.
Vince Iwuchukwu, a transfer from USC, played just 7.2 minutes per game this season – the lowest in his career.
Prior to leaving St. John’s he did help the program land Stanford transfer Oziyah Sellers, who he had been teammates with for two years at USC and in high school at Southern California Academy.
Iwuchukwu has one year remaining of eligibility.