St. John’s Takes Down Drexel, 81-52, in Exhibition Action

Wednesday, October 14

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

6 p.m.

St. John's University

0-0,0-0Big East

Drexel (Exhibition)

0-0,0-0CAA

Team	1	2	F
Drexel	28	24	52
St. John's (NY)	40	41	81

Tounde Yessoufou tallied nine points, four rebounds and three steals in 22 minutes of action.

Babacar Sane impressed in his preseason debut, logging game-highs of 17 points and eight rebounds. He also had two assists, a steal and a block.

Ian Jackson scored 10 points, dished out three assists and swiped two steals in the win over Drexel.

Ian Jackson throws down a jam for two of his 10 points against the Dragons.

Head Coach Rick Pitino is the active wins leader in men's Division I with 915.

Lefteris Liotopoulos logged two steals in 14 minutes on Wednesday night.

Lazar Stojkovic skies for elbow jumper. He finished with two points.

Fotis Konstantinidis grabbed a rebound for the Red Storm against Drexel in the Johnnies' 81-52 exhibition win over Drexel.

Casper Pohto drained a 3-pointer and dished out an assist in six minutes of action on Wednesday night.

Quinn Ellis stuffed the stat sheet with team highs in assists (6), steals (4) and blocks (2). He also grabbed six rebounds in the win over Drexel.

Reed bailey went 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line to finish with eight points. He was a +18 in just 14 minutes of action.

Theo Edema throws down a dunk. He went 2-for-2 from the floor in his first action at Carnesecca Arena.

Tounde Yessoufou gets to the rim against Drexel.

Ruben Prey lines up a 3-pointer against Drexel. He finished with six points.

Ian Jackson throws down a dunk against Drexel during the Red Storm's 81-52 exhibition win on Wednesday night in Queens.

Zsombor Maronka had four points, four rebounds and two steals in his preseason debut.

Babacar Sane went 5-for-10 from the floor and made three of his four attempts from beyond the arc.

Keyshawn Hall tallied nine points, five rebounds and two assists for the Red Storm.

St. John’s Takes Down Drexel, 81-52, in Exhibition Action

10/14/2026 10:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Babacar Sane leads the way with 17 points and eight rebounds

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's men's basketball team opened its preseason with an 81-52 win over Drexel on Wednesday night at Carnesecca Arena.

The Red Storm's defense shined against the Dragons, holding Drexel to just 25.8% shooting from the field and 12.5% from beyond the arc. The Johnnies forced 25 turnovers, 19 of which came off steals, and registered eight blocks. The Red Storm has not recorded 19 or more steals in a regular season game since December of 2020 against Stony Brook.

In his first intercollegiate action, Babacar Sane posted 17 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a block. The Senegalese forward made five of his 10 field goal tries and went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.

Junior guard Ian Jackson also finished in double figures, logging 10 points, three assists and a pair of steals. In 11 second-half minutes, Jackson went 4-of-6 from the field. For the game, the Bronx native and team captain finished with a team-high rating of +27.

Despite posting only three points, point guard Quinn Ellis was a force for the Red Storm in his preseason debut, stuffing the stat sheet with six assists, six rebounds, four steals and two blocks.

Baylor transfer and unanimous Preseason First Team All-BIG EAST selection Tounde Yessoufou scored nine points, pulled down four rebounds and swiped three steals.

Keyshawn Hall, an Auburn transfer, also tallied nine points for the Johnnies in addition to logging five rebounds and two assists.

Fifth-year forward Reed Bailey made all three of his field goal attempts and went 2-of-2 from the line to finish with eight points. The Indiana transfer also grabbed five boards and came away with three steals in just 14 minutes of action.

Drexel drained its first two field goal attempts of the evening, jumping out to a 5-0 lead before St. John's responded with 10-2 run to make it 10-7.

With the score tied at 11 and just over five minutes gone in the opening half, St. John's embarked on a 24-3 run over the next 11:28, holding Drexel without a field goal for that entire stretch.

Drexel cut into the Red Storm lead over the half's closing minutes, as the Johnnies took a 40-28 advantage into the locker room.

Up 13 with just over five minutes gone in the latter stanza, St. John's used a 13-2 run to move ahead by 24, 61-37, at the midway mark of the half, its largest lead of the game to that point.

The Red Storm maintained a lead in that range for the next several minutes before a late 7-0 burst put the Johnnies ahead by 30 with just over a minute to play.

St. John's will host two more exhibition matchups before the official start of the 2026-27 regular season, both of which will be held at Madison Square Garden. The Red Storm will take on Rutgers this coming Sunday before playing host to Texas on the following Sunday. Both games will tip off at 12 p.m. inside The World's Most Famous Arena.