Rick Pitino’s St. John’s Red Storm opened the 2025-26 season at Carnesecca Arena in Queens with a dominant 108-74 win against Quinnipiac. The Red Storm shot 56.5%, including 60 points in the paint.
Three particular players stood out in the win. Dillon Mitchell (18 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals), Ian Jackson (15 points (6-for-6 shooting, including 3-of-3 from three)) and Zuby Ejiofor (17 points and six rebounds) combined for 50 points exactly.
Br_Hoops shared the highlights of all these players with the following caption:
“Rick Pitino’s @stjohnsbball squad put up 108 in a blowout win over Quinnipiac to open their season 😳”
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Fans reacted to this with some feeling the team should not have allowed this many points to Quinnipiac.
“They not playing, look like a legit team that want it bad,” one fan wrote.
“Allowing 74 to quinnipiac should be concerning, quit the glazing,” another fan added.
“F*k yeah,” one fan said.
“Can’t believe UNC was playing with captain Jack like that smh!” one fan added.
Some fans are waiting for St. John’s next matchup against No. 15 Alabama Crimson Tide.
“WE’RE LIKE THAT,” one fan wrote.
“Can’t wait till Saturday when we play y’all. Roll Tide,” one fan said.
Rick Pitino Expresses Pleasure With Team’s Mindset In Season Opener
After the dominant win that saw the team score and dominate the opponent in every facet, head coach Rick Pitino was quite happy with the ultra-positive mindset of his players.
“The one thing that stood out from an ultra-positive standpoint was our mentality going into the game,” Pitino said. “From when the ball was thrown up to the end, we had an intense, aggressive mindset. We made our mistakes, as you always do in a first game, but overall, I couldn’t be more pleased.”
Pitino’s next matchup is against a ranked opponent from the Southeastern Conference. Alabama reached the Elite Eight last season and should be a force to reckon with this season. Regarding the upcoming opponent, Pitino said:
“Now we’re going to play a completely different type of team, one that takes only about eight or nine seconds to shoot every possession. So we’ll need to be ready for that.”
The game against Alabama will take place at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
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