No. 5 St. John’s Welcomes Towson for First Exhibition Contest on Saturday

Saturday, October 18

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

2 p.m.

St. John's University

Towson (Exhibition)

Tickets

No. 5 St. John’s Welcomes Towson for First Exhibition Contest on Saturday

10/17/2025 2:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Red Storm men’s basketball team hosts the Tigers at 2 p.m. inside Carnesecca Arena

QUEENS, N.Y. – The No. 5 St. John's men's basketball team will welcome Towson for an exhibition at Carnesecca Arena on Saturday. Tip-off is schedule for 2 p.m. with the live broadcast available on ESPN+.

St. John's University will also celebrate its homecoming weekend as it welcomes alumni and families to the Queens campus. Limited tickets are still available for tomorrow's contest, to purchase click here, e-mail redstormsports@stjohns.edu or call 1-888-GO-STORM.

The preseason meeting between the Red Storm and Tigers will be streamed on ESPN+ with Ed Cohen and Tarik Turner on the call from Carnesecca. The voice of the Red Storm, John Minko will call the audio broadcast on RedStormSports.com.

Earlier this week, St. John's was ranked No. 5 in the first edition of the Associated Press Top 25 poll, marking its highest preseason ranking in program history. The Johnnies have been included in each of the last 10 polls, dating back to Jan. 20. The No. 5 ranking marks the first time the Red Storm has been in the AP Preseason Top 25 since 1999.

St. John's has won 22 straight contests in New York City including exhibition games, dating back to last year's 64-46 exhibition win over Towson on Oct. 26, 2024. The Red Storm defense held the Tigers to 28.8% (17-59) shooting from the field and forced 25 turnovers.

The Johnnies are coming off their most successful season in decades in 2024-25. In his second year at the helm, Head Coach Rick Pitino led the resurgence as the Red Storm went 31-5 overall and 18-2 in BIG EAST competition, tying the 2023-24 National Champion Connecticut for the highest ever single-season league win total. The Red Storm captured the BIG EAST Regular Season and Tournament Championship and earned a No. 2 seed in the "Big Dance" winning its first NCAA Tournament game in 25 years in an 83-53 victory over Omaha.

The Johnnies return four players from last year's championship team that all appeared in 25 or more games as the Red Storm matched a program record with 31 victories. Zuby Ejiofor leads the group as the BIG EAST Most Improved Player and First Team selection. Team captain Sadiku Ibine Ayo returns for his fourth season under Pitino along with sophomores Lefteris Liotopolous and Ruben Prey, who both made an impact off the bench during the postseason run.

The 2025-26 roster features 11 new players including a highly-touted transfer class that was ranked No. 1 in the nation by ESPN and 247Sports. Three incoming players in Ian Jackson (No. 7), Bryce Hopkins (No. 16) and Joson Sanon (No. 22) ranked among the top 25 prospects in the 247Sports Transfer Portal rankings. The remainder of the class features versatile forward Dillon Mitchell, who has started 106 of his 107 collegiate appearances and ranked top-10 in the country in dunks (66) last year at Cincinnati. Sharpshooter Oziyah Sellers from Stanford who shot 40.1% from 3-point range, Big Sky Player of the Year Dylan Darling, who was one of three players to rank top-30 nationally in points and assists per game last season and Appalachian Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year Handje Tamba out of Milligan.

St. John's welcomes four freshmen- four-star prospect Kelvin Odih and a trio of European standouts in Fotis Konstantinidis (Greece), Casper Pohto (Sweden) and Imran Suljanovic (Austria). The Red Storm roster features seven international players from six different countries.

Towson was selected as the preseason favorites in the CAA Preseason poll by the league's coaches. The Tigers won the league regular season title after posting 16-2 conference record and a 22-10 overall mark in 2024-25. Head Coach Pat Skerry returns CAA Player of the Year Tyler Tejada, who was one of five conference players of the year to return to the same school. The Teaneck, N.J., native averaged 16.7 points per game last year. Tejada is joined by teammate Dylan Williamson as unanimous Preseason All-CAA First Team honorees.

Following Saturday's game, St. John's will take on No. 7 Michigan in its first-ever exhibition game at Madison Square Garden in the Bad Boy Mowers Series- New York on Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. To purchase tickets for the top-10 battle at the World's Most Famous Arena, click here.