The St. John’s men’s basketball secured a major signing of Mercer transfer guard Kyle Cuffe Jr. He will play in the backcourt for Rick Pitino next season. The former four-star recruit spent one season with Mercer after brief stints at Kansas and Syracuse.
With this signing, the 6-foot-2 guard followed on his father’s footsteps as Kyle Cuffe Sr. played for St. John’s from 2000 to 2004.
Cuffe Jr. averaged 7.3 points and shot 33.6% from three-point range at Mercer last season. He visited the Queens last weekend, and it didn’t take him long to announce his decision.
Before Mercer, he played two seasons for Syracuse, where he played in 29 games as a sophomore and 30 as a junior. With the Orange in the 2024-25 season, he averaged 5.1 points off the bench. Moreover, he was recruited by Kansas but redshirted his freshman season and suffered a devastating injury the following year.
Rick Pitino’s St. John’s Losing a Lot in Transfer Portal
Under coach Rick Pitino, St. John’s basketball has been among the active college programs in the transfer portal this offseason. Apart from Kyle Cuffe Jr., the St. John’s have also added Donnie Freeman, a highly touted former Syracuse forward who committed on April 21. St. John’s also secured commitments from three-star Avery Brown (from Columbia).
Four-star and 7-footer Theo Edema has also been added. He was a former four-star recruit who has reclassified from the 2027 class to the 2026 class. He chose to go with St. John’s over Stanford, Maryland, Auburn, Creighton, Syracuse and BYU. He was ranked No. 33 overall in the 2027 class. Also, he was No. 5 ranked center and the No. 1 player in Massachusetts.
However, the program has also suffered some losses in the transfer portal. International wing Imran Suljanovic transferred to New Mexico. Guard Dylan Darling entered the portal on April 14 and committed to Grand Canyon. Freshman guard Kelvin Odih entered the transfer portal on April 15, and forward Sadiku Ayo entered on March 30. Guard Joson Sanon is leaving for West Virginia.
Overall, St. John’s has secured two commitments and lost five players to the transfer portal. They are ranked 56th nationally on On3’s transfer portal index.
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