The moment was building. The individual honors were slowly trickling in for the St. John’s basketball center but Wednesday afternoon at Madison Square Garden was his big moment.
Zuby Ejiofor was named as the unanimous Big East Player of the Year, culminating a regular season that stacks up against any other career in Queens.
Ejiofor becomes the fourth player in St. John’s history to win the award, joining Chris Mullin, Walter Berry, and RJ Luis Jr. Ejiofor and Luis have become the first duo to win the outright award from the same school since Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson in 2017-18.
It’s also the first time since 1985-86 that the Johnnies have won back-to-back Big East Player of the Year Awards.
Earlier in the week, Zuby Ejiofor was named as a unanimous selection to the All-Big East First Team as well as the league’s Defensive Player of the year. He’s the first St. John’s player to ever win the Defensive Player of the Year and the Player of the Year in the same season.
He becomes the first Big East player since Josh Hart in 2017 to be the Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and unanimous First Team selection.
In addition to his on-court accolades, Zuby Ejiofor was also the recipient of the Big East Scholar Athlete of the Year, which was the first time a St. John’s player won the award since Lavor Postell in 2000 and just the fourth overall.
Last season, Ejiofor was a First Team All-Big East selection as well as the Most Improved Player. In his St. John’s career, the only award he has been eligible for that he did not win within the conference is the Sportsmanship Award.
Zuby Ejiofor will be formally presented with his awards inside Madison Square Garden on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. ET and will look to lead the Red Storm to back-to-back conference tournament championships beginning on Thursday (12:00 p.m. ET, Peacock) against either Butler or Providence.