On a night when the Red Storm returning players received their Big East championship rings, the Johnnies’ star-studded six-man transfer class showed they wanted to claim their own bling this season.
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John’s looked every part like a fifth-ranked team in their curtain raiser for the 2025-26 season, leaving nothing to chance and decimating Quinnipiac in a 108-74 blowout.
Unlike last season’s meeting against Quinnipiac, St. John’s never trailed and applied pressure for all forty minutes. The Red Storm took an early 19-4 lead after a steal and breakaway slam by Dillon Mitchell, who led the Johnnies with 18 points, seven rebounds, and four steals in his debut in red and white.
Mitchell and his frontcourt partners continued to dominate together on the court. Bryce Hopkins did a little bit of everything, logging eight points, four rebounds and five assists in only 22 minutes played. Zuby Ejiofor appeared even faster and more aggressive in the paint, recording 17 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes of action.
First impressions for the point-guard-less motion offense couldn’t have been better. St. John’s tallied their most points in a game in four seasons, shooting 56.5 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from deep (8-of-21). The Johnnies’ lead ballooned to as many as 45 points with 5:26 to go before Rick Pitino called the dogs off, giving closing minutes to Casper Pohto, Handje Tamba, Fotis Konstantinidis — the latter of whom drilled a late three to elicit one of the loudest roars of the night from the sellout crowd at Carnesecca Arena.
Ian Jackson shook off the scrutiny for a pair of quiet preseason performances by scoring 15 points on a perfect 6-of-6 from the field, including three triples. The North Carolina transfer also led the team in plus-minus with +31, even though he only played 15 minutes.
Playmaking wasn’t a concern, either, with St. John’s dishing out 25 assists to 14 turnovers as the offense entered a flow. Even though Dylan Darling and Oziyah Sellers were each held to single digits, the transfer combo combined for eleven assists.
The Red Storm will have a five-day turnaround before their first real test of the season against Labaron Philon and the No. 15 Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday, November 8 at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off is slated for 12:00 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on FS1.
