St. John's use of Zuby Ejiofor and Ruben Prey on the court together has been productive
St. John's Zuby Ejiofor slaps five with Ruben Prey in a Big East men’s basketball tournament semifinal game against Marquette at Madison Square Garden on March 14, 2025. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
OMAHA, Neb. — For the first two months of St. John’s season, playing Zuby Ejiofor and Ruben Prey had been an either-or proposition. The 6-9 Ejiofor was the starting center and the 6-10 Prey was the backup. They almost never were on the court together.
However, Red Storm coach Rick Pitino went for that combo when Bryce Hopkins got into early foul trouble against Butler on Tuesday, and the positives that came out of St. John’s 84-70 win suggest the original approach might deserve reconsideration.
After the Red Storm outscored the Bulldogs by 15 points when they played together and provided a more physical presence, the two centers could play together again Saturday when St. John’s (10-5, 3-1 Big East) faces Creighton (10-6, 4-1) at CHI Health Center.
“He brings size, he brings length and, physicality — a guy who could just do it on both sides of the ball just like I can,” Ejiofor said of Prey on Thursday before the team traveled.
The sample size is small because the Red Storm rarely have had them in the lineup together. However, the advanced metrics show that the tandem together might give the team its most effective lineup.
When the two of them are on the court together, St. John’s scores at a pace of 138 points per 100 possessions and allows only 66 points per possession, according to the lineup analysis tool at hoop-explorer.com.
“I think they played extremely well together and that’s just because how versatile they both are, being able to move on the defensive end and guard, being able to move their feet, obviously rebounding,” forward Dillon Mitchell said. “Zuby and Ruben, especially being able to stretch the floor a little bit, to play alongside each other, and then rebounding the ball. I mean, they’re both so versatile that they can play great together, and they did.”
The lineup St. John’s has been using most recently — Ejiofor, Hopkins, Joson Sanon, Ian Jackson and Oziyah Sellers — scores 127 points and gives up 117 per 100 possessions, according to the same instrument. That lineup, however, has been used in five times as many possessions.
Because Butler entered the game among the best offensive rebounding teams in the country, Pitino moved Mitchell into the starting lineup in place of Sanon. With that lineup and then Prey coming off the bench for Hopkins, the Red Storm outscored the Bulldogs 44-24 in the paint and allowed them only six offensive rebounds.
Pitino has said that St. John’s isn’t at its defensive best when Jackson and Sanon are on the court together. Against every lineup with the two sophomores, foes have shot at least 30% from outside the three-point arc.
The lineup with Mitchell on the floor in Sanon’s place? It has allowed opponents to shoot only 11.1% on three-point attempts.
Ejiofor conceded that he has no input in who Pitino has on the court at any given time, but he indicated that he liked what pairing him with Prey accomplished. Prey had one of his best games of the season with 10 points and 4-for-5 shooting (including 2-for-2 on three-point attempts) plus two steals and a blocked shot.
“We don’t get too [much] time playing on the court together, but it was good to see him out there,” Ejiofor said. “He was free-flowing, doing the things he knows he’s capable of doing, which is knocking down shots and using his physicality as well.”
“The team has always had trust in me,” Prey said after Tuesday’s game. “It’s not something that just happened today. I feel confident when I go in and I know my teammates have my back.”
St. John’s has appeared to have the best collection of frontcourt players in the Big East from the start of the season in Ejiofor, Hopkins, Mitchell and Prey. The way things unfolded at Butler may have offered everyone a peek at how Pitino might set lineups moving forward.
Asked after the Butler game if he is considering using the tandem of Prey and Ejiofor together more, Pitino replied, “I’ve wanted to do it all season. . . . I think they can play together. Now, is [Prey] as good as Bryce or Dillon? Maybe not quite. But I have no trepidation at all playing them together.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
