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Fox Sports
10-04-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Zuby Ejiofor listens to St. John's coach Rick Pitino and delivers solid 1st pitch at Mets game
Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The basketball season is over, but St. John's forward Zuby Ejiofor is still heeding coach Rick Pitino's advice. The 6-foot-9 Ejiofor, who earned first-team All-Big East honors last month after helping the Johnnies to their first outright regular-season conference title in 40 years, threw out the first pitch at Citi Field on Wednesday before the series finale between the New York Mets and Miami Marlins. 'He gave me a little advice,' Ejiofor said of Pitino, who threw out the first pitch before a Mets-Yankees game in 2023. 'He said not to bounce it.' Despite saying he had 'zero' experience in baseball, Ejiofor threw a pitch from the top of the mound that landed right in the glove of John Franco, the St. John's alum and former Mets closer who stood at the plate in front of eight of Ejiofor's teammates. 'If Zuby takes care of business and doesn't hurt our superstar alumnus here, it'll be a good start for the Mets, the hottest team in baseball,' Pitino said before New York lost 5-0, snapping its six-game winning streak. Pitino — wearing a personalized No. 41 jersey, the same number retired by the Mets in Tom Seaver's honor — appeared with Ejiofor, Franco and Red Storm center Vince Iwuchukwu at a pregame news conference. Franco was presented with a St. John's No. 45 uniform — the same number he wore in his final six-plus seasons with the Mets. The 72-year-old Pitino, raised in New York City and Long Island, recalled going to Yankees games as a child with his sisters but also said he cheered for the Mets. 'I used to go watch Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, reserves like Héctor López, Johnny Blanchard, (Tony) Kubek, (Bobby) Richardson,' Pitino said. 'But I was also a Mets fan of (Jerry) Koosman, Seaver and going back to Tommie Agee. I'm one of the few people that rooted for both teams. Anything with 'NY' on it, I'm 100% behind it.' Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he enjoyed watching as St. John's became the biggest winter sports story in New York by going 31-5 and winning an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 2000. The Red Storm matched a school record for wins and took home their first Big East Tournament title in 25 years before their season ended with a 75-66 loss to Arkansas in the second round of the NCAAs. 'When you get a team that is doing something special like they did — we saw it last year with us, it was our story where nobody knew if we were able to do anything,' said Mendoza, who led the Mets to the 2024 National League Championship Series after a 24-35 start. 'It's a pretty cool feeling. It's a privilege, it's an honor, when you have the ability to represent and do something special the way they did.' Pitino said he's looking forward to getting back to work with the Red Storm, who have added former Providence star Bryce Hopkins and ex-Arizona State guard Joson Sanon via the transfer portal. Red Storm star RJ Luis Jr., the Big East Player of the Year and a second-team All-American, decided to declare for the NBA draft while retaining his eligibility and entering the portal. Pitino acknowledged St. John's needs to improve offensively in order to become a national title contender. The Red Storm finished second in the nation in defensive efficiency but 68th in offensive efficiency, per Each of the teams that made the Final Four — NCAA champion Florida along with Houston, Duke and Auburn — finished in the top 10 in offensive efficiency. 'We need shooting as much as anything,' Pitino said of the Red Storm, who shot 44.5% from the field and ranked among the nation's bottom 20 teams in 3-point shooting at 30.1%. 'It's the offensive teams that really go far in the tournament. You have to have a great offense. And we were not a great offensive basketball team this season.' ___ This story has been corrected with the proper spelling of Tommie Agee's first name and Héctor López's last name. A previous version was corrected to show that Pitino was referring to Bobby Richardson, not Clint Richardson. ___ AP MLB: recommended
Fox Sports
09-04-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Zuby Ejiofor listens to Pitino, delivers solid first pitch at Mets game
Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The basketball season is over, but Zuby Ejiofor is still heeding Rick Pitino's advice. Ejiofor, the 6-foot-9 St. John's forward who earned first-team all-Big East honors while helping the Red Storm to its first conference title in 25 years, threw out the first pitch at Citi Field Wednesday prior to the series finale between the New York Mets and Miami Marlins. 'He gave me a little advice,' Ejiofor said of Pitino, who threw out the first pitch before a Mets-Yankees game in 2023. 'He said not to bounce it.' Despite saying he had 'zero' experience in baseball, Ejiofor's pitch from the top of the mound landed right in the glove of John Franco, the St. John's alum and former Mets closer who stood at the plate in front of eight of Ejiofor's teammates. 'If Zuby takes care of business and doesn't hurt our superstar alumnus here, it'll be a good start for the Mets, the hottest team in baseball,' Pitino said before New York pursued its seventh straight win. Pitino — wearing a personalized No. 41 jersey, the same number retired in Tom Seaver's honor — appeared with Ejiofor, Franco and Red Storm center Vince Iwuchukwu at a pregame press conference. Franco was presented with a St. John's No. 45 uniform — the same number he wore in his final six-plus seasons with the Mets. The 72-year-old Pitino, who was born in New York City and raised on Long Island, recalled going to Yankees games as a child with his sisters but also said he cheered for the Mets. 'I used to go watch Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, reserves like Hector Lopes, Johnny Blanchard, (Tony) Kubek, (Clint) Richardson,' Pitino said. 'But I was also a Mets fan of (Jerry) Koosman, Seaver and going back to Tommy Agee. I'm one of the few people that rooted for both teams. Anything with 'NY' on it, I'm 100% behind it.' Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he enjoyed watching as St. John's became the biggest winter sports story in New York by going 31-5 and winning an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 2000. The Red Storm's season ended with a 75-66 second-round loss to Arkansas. 'When you get a team that is doing something special like they did — we saw it last year with us, it was our story where nobody knew if we were able to do anything,' said Mendoza, who led the Mets to the NLCS after a 24-35 start. 'It's a pretty cool feeling. It's a privilege, it's an honor, when you have the ability to represent and do something special the way they did.' Pitino said he's looking forward to getting back to work with the Red Storm, who lost Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. to the transfer portal but added former Providence star Bryce Hopkins. He acknowledged St. John's needs to improve offensively in order to become a national title contender. The Red Storm finished second in the nation in defensive efficiency but 68th in offensive efficiency, per Each of the teams that made the Final Four — champion Florida along with Houston, Duke and Auburn — finished in the top 10 in offensive efficiency. 'We need shooting as much as anything,' Pitino said of the Red Storm, who shot 44.5% from the field and ranked among the nation's bottom 20 teams in 3-point shooting at 30.1%. 'It's the offensive teams that really go far in the tournament. You have to have a great offense. And we were not a great offensive basketball team this season.' ___ AP MLB: recommended
Associated Press
09-04-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Zuby Ejiofor listens to Pitino, delivers solid first pitch at Mets game
NEW YORK (AP) — The basketball season is over, but Zuby Ejiofor is still heeding Rick Pitino's advice. Ejiofor, the 6-foot-9 St. John's forward who earned first-team all-Big East honors while helping the Red Storm to its first conference title in 25 years, threw out the first pitch at Citi Field Wednesday prior to the series finale between the New York Mets and Miami Marlins. 'He gave me a little advice,' Ejiofor said of Pitino, who threw out the first pitch before a Mets-Yankees game in 2023. 'He said not to bounce it.' Despite saying he had 'zero' experience in baseball, Ejiofor's pitch from the top of the mound landed right in the glove of John Franco, the St. John's alum and former Mets closer who stood at the plate in front of eight of Ejiofor's teammates. 'If Zuby takes care of business and doesn't hurt our superstar alumnus here, it'll be a good start for the Mets, the hottest team in baseball,' Pitino said before New York pursued its seventh straight win. Pitino — wearing a personalized No. 41 jersey, the same number retired in Tom Seaver's honor — appeared with Ejiofor, Franco and Red Storm center Vince Iwuchukwu at a pregame press conference. Franco was presented with a St. John's No. 45 uniform — the same number he wore in his final six-plus seasons with the Mets. The 72-year-old Pitino, who was born in New York City and raised on Long Island, recalled going to Yankees games as a child with his sisters but also said he cheered for the Mets. 'I used to go watch Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, reserves like Hector Lopes, Johnny Blanchard, (Tony) Kubek, (Clint) Richardson,' Pitino said. 'But I was also a Mets fan of (Jerry) Koosman, Seaver and going back to Tommy Agee. I'm one of the few people that rooted for both teams. Anything with 'NY' on it, I'm 100% behind it.' Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he enjoyed watching as St. John's became the biggest winter sports story in New York by going 31-5 and winning an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 2000. The Red Storm's season ended with a 75-66 second-round loss to Arkansas. 'When you get a team that is doing something special like they did — we saw it last year with us, it was our story where nobody knew if we were able to do anything,' said Mendoza, who led the Mets to the NLCS after a 24-35 start. 'It's a pretty cool feeling. It's a privilege, it's an honor, when you have the ability to represent and do something special the way they did.' Pitino said he's looking forward to getting back to work with the Red Storm, who lost Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. to the transfer portal but added former Providence star Bryce Hopkins. He acknowledged St. John's needs to improve offensively in order to become a national title contender. The Red Storm finished second in the nation in defensive efficiency but 68th in offensive efficiency, per Each of the teams that made the Final Four — champion Florida along with Houston, Duke and Auburn — finished in the top 10 in offensive efficiency. 'We need shooting as much as anything,' Pitino said of the Red Storm, who shot 44.5% from the field and ranked among the nation's bottom 20 teams in 3-point shooting at 30.1%. 'It's the offensive teams that really go far in the tournament. You have to have a great offense. And we were not a great offensive basketball team this season.'
USA Today
22-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
March Madness: Arkansas' Trevon Brazile hit with flagrant 1 to help spur St. John's run
March Madness: Arkansas' Trevon Brazile hit with flagrant 1 to help spur St. John's run Show Caption Hide Caption Defending champs UConn vs No. 1 seed Florida leads Sunday slate Mackenzie Salmon previews the best games during Sundays slate of games in the round of 32 including the defending champs UConn taking on Florida. Sports Seriously A second-round NCAA Tournament game between St. John's and Arkansas that was widely billed as a meeting between coaching rivals Rick Pitino and John Calipari has been a physical contest between their respective players. At one point, it even required a trip for the officials to the replay review monitor. Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile was called for a flagrant 1 foul with 6:10 remaining in the first half after a physical confrontation with Red Storm big man Zuby Ejiofor while the two were boxing out for a rebound on a missed 3-pointer by St. John's. REQUIRED READING: Rick Pitino and John Calipari aren't friends, but mutual March Madness respect is obvious Originally ruled a common foul, the officials went to the monitor and, after a relatively brief review, the foul was upgraded to a flagrant 1. A flagrant 1 foul is one deemed to be 'excessive in nature' or involve 'unnecessary contact,' though the latter isn't based on the severity of the contact. Trevon Brazile was assessed a Flagrant 1 foul for this illegal box out.#MarchMadness — TSN (@TSN_Sports) March 22, 2025 Ejiofor made one of his two free throws and added a dunk on the ensuing possession. The sequence proved to be consequential, as it was part of a 10-2 run in which the Red Storm turned an early eight-point deficit into a tie game. It wasn't the first altercation between Brazile and Ejiofor, who had been jawing at each other a few minutes earlier. CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore initially disagreed with the call, believing it to be a common foul, but after the flagrant ruling was issued, he noted that he changed his mind, having seen one of Brazile's arms making contact with Ejiofor's head and neck area. Arkansas went into the half with a 35-32 lead over St. John's, the Big East regular-season and tournament champion.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
St. John's vs. Arkansas: Live updates from March Madness
PROVIDENCE — St. John's raced past Omaha in a 30-point opening-round March Madness win. And Arkansas survived Kansas and could be hitting its stride at the right time. Now we're ready for the matchup that most of the country wanted to see: Rick Pitino vs. John Calipari. If history tells us anything, Saturday's game at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence could go to the wire. Game time is set for 2:40 p.m. between No. 2 St. John's (31-4) and No. 10 Arkansas (21-13). The two programs have only played each other twice and split the two meetings. St. John's won, 68-65, on March 16, 1985 and Arkansas took the second matchup, 80-74, on March 20, 1993. Here's what Pitino and Calipari said about the matchup during Friday's media day. And here's how to watch the game. Follow along for live updates from March Madness. Two quick dunks from Ejiofor and Luis forces an Arkansas timeout. St. John's is shooting just 22% from the floor. Luis (1-9) is going to need to heat up if St. John's is going to make a run in this first half. Brazile was called for a flagrant and Ejiofor made one free throw. St. John's held scoreless for over six minutes as Arkansas is holding to a 20-14 lead. Pitino's gone into his bench with Wilcher only playing four minutes so far. Luis a,so sat for a stretch between media timeouts. Wilcher and Richmond both have two fouls. St. John's is killing Arkansas on the offensive glass (seven offensive rebounds) and it's awoken the Red Storm faifthful in Providence. This feels like a home game for St. John's. Ejiofor is up to nine points. Knox opened with an and-one finish inside after the first media timeout. Davis has five points at the first media timeout and drained a pullup 3-pointer to give the Razorbacks an early advantage. Arkansas certainly doesn't look like they are the underdog in the opening minutes. Johnell Davis, D.J. Wagner, Karter Knox, Trevon Brazile and Jonas Aidoo. Simeon Wilcher, Kadary Richmond, Aaron Scott, RJ Luis, Jr. and Zuby Ejiofor. This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Live updates from March Madness between St. John's vs. Arkansas
