There are still games to be played in the St. John’s basketball career of Zuby Ejiofor, but Wednesday’s announcement officially puts him in a class of his own in the history of the program.
After being presented with the Big East Player of the Year and Scholar Athlete of the Year, he became the first player in Red Storm history to be a two-time First Team All-Big East selection, the Big East Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, and Scholar Athlete of the Year in his career.
Ejiofor is the second player in conference history to win the Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Scholar Athlete in the same season. He’s the first player since Creighton’s Doug McDermott in 2013-14 to be the unanimous Player of the Year.
It deserves recognition from the school, which is likely to come, inside Carnesecca Arena where it displays plaques of program greats like Chris Mullin, Walter Berry, Mark Jackson, Ron Artest, Malik Sealy, and others.
Zuby Ejiofor, along with Rick Pitino, resurrected a dormant program.
There was no buzz or excitement surrounding St. John’s prior to their arrivals. Now, the Johnnies are selling out Madison Square Garden and are one of the hottest tickets in New York City as hundreds of fans were turned away at a team autograph signing at Applebee’s in Fresh Meadows earlier this week.
“When I first came in, I say it all the time, I came in as a young guy really confused,” Ejiofor said at his award press conference on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden inside the Infosys Thea
“The bright lights of MSG, New York City, and so fixated on doing everything right, you know, the right way, and I made a lot of mistakes early on and I was able to play through it all and just persevere and keep my head straight.”
Zuby Ejiofor’s numbers increased in each of his four years, beginning at Kansas. This season he posted 16.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.0 blocks, and 1.2 steals per game.
“As proud as I am with his accomplishments, sweeping [the Big East] awards, I’m more proud of him the way he’s emerged as a person,” Rick Pitino said on Wednesday.
“You’re not going to replace Zuby, but you hope you can get two or three guys that can replace him,” he added.
Already a two-time Big East regular season champion and Big East Tournament champ, Zuby Ejiofor will be looking to end his conference career with another trophy as top-seeded St. John’s begins its run at Madison Square Garden on Thursday afternoon (12:00 p.m. ET, Peacock) against either Butler or Providence.
Regardless, it shouldn’t be long before Ejiofor is honored in Queens with the iconic players in the history of the program.