No. 13/14 St. John’s Moves Past Monmouth, 78-63 - St. John's University Athletics

Monday, November 2

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

6:30 p.m.

St. John's University

1-0,0-0Big East

Monmouth

0-1,0-0CAA

Team	1	2	F
Monmouth	29	34	63
St. John's (NY)	45	33	78

No. 13 St. John's Men's Basketball kicked off the 2026-27 season with a 78-63 win over Monmouth on Monday night in Carnesecca Arena. Before the game, the five returning players from last year's team took part in a ceremony honoring the 2025-26 BIG EAST Regular Season and Tournament Champions.

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

Prior to the start of the game, the program celebrated its back-to-back outright BIG EAST Regular Season and BIG EAST Tournament titles.

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

Keyshawn Hall led all scorers with 26 points, going 9-of-16 from the field and a perfect 7-7 from the charity stripe. The graduate student added nine rebounds, two steals and two assists to his stat line.

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

Quinn Ellis quarterbacked the Red Storm offense with a game-high seven assists, adding eight points, five steals and five rebounds.

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

Tounde Yessoufou, who tallied 22 minutes off the bench, added 12 points, five rebounds and a pair of assists.

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

Reed Bailey logged 16 minutes off the bench, chipping in five points and five rebounds.

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

St. John's held the advantage on the fast break, scoring 16 points to Monmouth's four. The Red Storm also outscored the Hawks in the paint, 38-28.

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

The Johnnies out-rebounded Monmouth, 40-31, including a 12-5 edge on the offensive glass. Zsombor Maronka led all players with a pair of blocks.

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

No. 13 St. John's is back in action on Sunday, taking on Iona in it's first of 13 regular season games at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off against the Gaels is set for 12 p.m.

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

11/2/2026 10:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Quotes VIDEO: Highlights VIDEO: Postgame Press Conference Photo Gallery

Keyshawn Hall leads the way with 26 points and nine rebounds

QUEENS, N.Y. – The No. 13/14 St. John's men's basketball team opened its 2026-27 season with a 78-63 win over Monmouth on Monday night at Carnesecca Arena.

The Red Storm (1-0) trailed for just 17 seconds and led by 10 or more points for 36:17.

Keyshawn Hall paced the Red Storm in his St. John's debut, scoring 20 of his game-high 26 points in the first half. The Auburn transfer went 9-of-16 from the floor and 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Hall also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and grabbed two steals.

Ian Jackson poured in 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including a 3-for-5 showing from beyond the arc.

Tounde Yessoufou finished with 12 points, five rebounds and a pair of steals.

Quinn Ellis stuffed the stat sheet in his St. John's debut, tallying eight points, seven assists, five steals and five rebounds.

The Red Storm forced 18 turnovers, 14 of which came off steals. The Johnnies' 14 thefts matched the second-highest total of the Rick Pitino Era at St. John's, surpassed only by the 15 recorded against Bucknell on Nov. 20, 2025.

St. John's has now won 13 consecutive season openers dating back to the 2014-15 campaign. The Johnnies are now 63-3 all-time in Carnesecca Arena openers dating back to the building's opening in 1961.

In his 38^th full season as a Division I head coach, Pitino is now 33-5 in season openers and 35-3 in home openers, including wins in 31 of his last 32. Tonight was the Hall of Famer's 916^th Division I win, the highest total of any active coach and the third highest total of all-time.

Monmouth (0-1) won the tip-off and scored on its opening possession. That would prove to be the Hawks' only lead of the night. Hall responded with an old-fashioned three-point play 17 seconds later to kick off an 18-2 Red Storm run. Hall scored the Red Storm's first seven points in a span of just 17 seconds thanks to a slew of Monmouth turnovers.

The Red Storm continued to pour in on in the early going, stretching its lead to 24-6 with six straight points, punctuated by a Reed Bailey layup with 11:49 to go.

Leading by 16 at the break, St. John's stretched its lead to as many as 19 in the opening minutes of the period before Monmouth whittled the deficit down to as little as 12 near the midway mark of the stanza. That was as close as the Hawks would get, as St. John's quickly bumped the lead back to 19 thanks to a pair of Jackson 3-pointers.

The Red Storm led by as many as 21 in the final minutes before closing out the 78-63 win.

The Johnnies will return to action on Sunday when they play host to Iona at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. on Peacock and 880 AM ESPN New York.

Madison Square Garden tickets plans, which secure your seat to all 13 regular season home games at The Mecca, are on sale now. Fans can also buy single-game tickets by clicking here.