No. 14/16 St. John’s to Battle Bucknell on Thursday Night in Queens

Thursday, November 20

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

Bucknell

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Ian Jackson gave the Johnnies a lift offensively, dropping nine points in the win.

No. 14/16 St. John’s to Battle Bucknell on Thursday Night in Queens

11/19/2025 2:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Watch Listen Live Stats Game Notes (PDF)Media Guide (PDF)Pregame Quotes

Red Storm and Bison will tip off at 7 p.m. on TNT and truTV

QUEENS, N.Y. – The No. 14/16 St. John's men's basketball team will close out its season-opening four-game homestand when it welcomes Bucknell to Carnesecca Arena on Thursday.

Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. on TNT and truTV. Spero Dedes and Robbie Hummel will provide the call with Jared Greenberg reporting from the sidelines. Fans can catch the LEARFIELD Red Storm Sports Network radio broadcast with John Minko and Tarik Turner on 1050 AM ESPN New York. That audio call can also be found on the ESPN New York app, the Varsity Network app, TuneIn, the SiriusXM app, and the St. John's Red Storm app.

Tickets for the game are sold out to the general public. A limited number of student tickets are still available and can be claimed by clicking here.

St. John's (2-1) will look to remain undefeated in Queens under the direction of Hall of Famer Rick Pitino. Since Pitino took over the program in the spring of 2023, the Red Storm is 16-0 in games play at Carnesecca Arena with an average margin of victory of 23.8 points. Against non-conference foes, that average point differential is 26.1 in favor of the Johnnies.

Thursday will mark Pitino's 1,200^th game as a collegiate head coach. He owns an all-time record of 887-312 (.740), good enough for the highest win total among active Division I coaches. In addition to his 38 seasons roaming a collegiate sideline, Pitino also spent eight seasons in the NBA and two years leading Panathinaikos in Greece.

St. John's has been enjoyed an offensive resurgence so far in 2025-26, scoring 93 points or more in all three of its games. The Red Storm's 99.0 point per game scoring average is the program's highest through three appearances since 1971-72 when Frank Mulzoff's Johnnies opened the season with efforts of 98, 107 and 103.
Six members of the Red Storm are averaging double figures heading into Thursday night led by senior Zuby Ejiofor at 18.3 points per outing. The BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year is shooting 67.9% from the floor and 50.0% from beyond the arc in addition to pulling down a team-best 7.0 boards per game. Bryce Hopkins ranks second on the squad at 14.0 points per game followed by Ian Jackson at 12.7. On Tuesday, Ejiofor, Hopkins and Jackson were all named to the Preseason Top 50 Watch List for the Wooden Award.

In addition to that nationally heralded trio, Joson Sanon is averaging 12.0 points per outing while Oziyah Sellers and Dillon Mitchell are averaging 11.0 points apiece.

On Tuesday, Pitino named Mitchell the team's third captain alongside Ejiofor and senior Sadiku Ibine Ayo.

Bucknell (2-3) began its season with back-to-back wins over Delaware and Mount St. Mary's before dropping three straight to Princeton, Hofstra and Pittsburgh. In the team's most recent outing against the Panthers on Monday, the Bison shot 27.7% in an 84-50 loss at Petersen Events Center.

Three Bucknell players are averaging double figures on the season led by 6-foot-11 freshman Amon Dorries at 14.2 points per game. Senior forward Ruot Bijiek is adding 12.8 points and 5.2 boards per contest while sophomore Jayden Williams, a Bronx native, is averaging 10.2 points and a team-high 4.0 assists per outing.

Bucknell is under the direction of third-year head coach John Griffin III, who has led Bucknell to a 23-13 conference record and a pair of appearances in the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament. Griffin served as the associate head coach at Saint Joseph's University before taking over in Lewisburg.

St. John's and Bucknell will meet for the third time in the history of the two programs. The Red Storm has won each of the previous two contests, the last of which was a 67-63 on Nov. 19, 2013, at Carnesecca Arena. The first meeting between the two schools came more than 100 years earlier, a 28-18 win for St. John's on Feb. 10, 1912.

After taking on Bucknell, St. John's will head to Las Vegas for the Players Era Championship. The Johnnies will kick things off on Monday with a 4:30 p.m. ET contest against No. 16/14 Iowa State. The Red Storm will then face RV/RV Baylor on Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET before playing a third game on Wednesday or Thursday depending on the first two days' results.