Zuby Ejiofor’s personality can be contagious, and Rick Pitino hopes that his work ethic can be the same for the St. John’s basketball team.
Ejiofor has continued his dominant stretch of play after a 22-point, 10-rebound showing for the Red Storm in a 99-77 victory over Bryant on Tuesday night. The Johnnies’ captain is now averaging 17.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game over his left seven contests after a sluggish start of only posting 7.0 points and 3.0 rebounds through the team’s first three games.
“I have just been playing with a lot more passion, a lot more energy,” Ejiofor said about his recent performances.
“To start the season, I didn’t come out exactly the way I wanted to.”
But that slow start to the year didn’t discourage Ejiofor, it encouraged him to work harder and try to correct things and now he looks like one of the best players in the Big East.
“I just come out and try to out-work every single person that’s in front of me and play with tons of energy and show what I’m capable of doing.”
Pitino acknowledges that not every player has the same energy and passion inside of him to work as hard as Ejiofor but hopes it can rub off on other players.
“Now everybody doesn’t have this, working hard is a skill, and I’ve coached for 50 years, every player can’t work like Zuby,” he said. “They don’t have that in him...nobody on the team works like Zuby.”
“I truly believe if some of our players worked like him, they’d be one of the top players in the Big East because he’s relentless at what he does and he doesn’t get many breaks.”
One of the players that St. John’s is trying to get rolling is prized offseason acquisition Kadary Richmond, who has shown his All-Big East capabilities in spurts while wearing a Red Storm uniform.
Richmond had nine points, three rebounds, five assists, and two steals against Bryant. His flashes have proven of why many considered him the top player in the transfer portal, but Pitino is trying to squeeze all he can out of the guard and get his elite production on a more consistent basis.
“If he would get some Zuby in him, and it’s not just him, if they all would be reincarnated and get Zuby’s work ethic, a guy like Kadary could be lethal.”
Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond will lead St. John’s (8-2) into Big East play on Tuesday night (6:30 p.m. ET, Peacock) against DePaul (7-2, 0-1 Big East) inside Carnesecca Arena.