No. 13 St. John's strives to build chemistry in opener vs. Monmouth

Oct 25, 2026; New York, NY, USA; St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino yells out instructions in the first half against the Texas Longhorns at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images In the past two seasons under Rick Pitino, St. John's dipped heavily into the transfer portal to build a roster that was among the upper echelon of the Big East. For his latest installment of roster building, Pitino was aggressive in adding transfers but also active in mixing in international players. A loaded nonconference schedule should give Pitino a better idea of how his new roster will mesh. He gets his first look at the changes Monday when the 13th-ranked Red Storm host Monmouth in New York. "I'm not sure we are going to be ready for the likes of Arizona or the (Players Era 16), but we just got to hold steady, win as many games as we can, because come January we will be a much better basketball team," said Pitino, whose team will visit Alabama, host Arizona and face high-level games at the Players Era event in Las Vegas. The Red Storm head into Pitino's fourth season off consecutive regular-season and conference tournament titles. A lot of that had to do with the emergence of Zuby Ejiofor, who became a late first-round NBA draft pick in June. Ejiofor, Dillon Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins are among the player losses. Pitino is counting on Babacar Sane and Keyshawn Hall to replace them. Both are playing under temporary restraining orders that made them eligible. Sane has a Nov. 9 hearing on his eligibility. Sane averaged 9.9 points and shot 46.7 percent in Germany last season. He also has NBA G League experience. Sane scored 34 points in three Red Storm exhibitions this preseason. Hall, who averaged 19.3 points last season for Auburn, scored 20 points against St. John's in Las Vegas last Nov. 26. He scored 24 points in each of the Red Storm's final two exhibition games, against Rutgers and Texas, respectively. Ian Jackson is among the few returnees, and he figures to improve his scoring average from 9.4 points. The Red Storm are also anticipating a strong backcourt trio with Jackson, Baylor transfer Tounde Yessoufou and Quinn Ellis, an England native who shot 37.7 percent from 3-point range in Euroleague play. "If we match up skill-wise against any team in the country, we probably have more skill," Hall said after a 13-point exhibition win over Texas. Monmouth came in fifth in the Coastal Athletic Association's preseason poll after finishing fourth last season for its best finish since moving from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 2022. Monmouth lost to Hofstra in the conference tournament championship game. "We're just trying to take the steps to be one of the better teams in this league," coach King Rice said at the CAA's virtual media day. "I think we made a big giant step last year and we feel like we made some steps for this year, but we have to see once the games start." The Hawks' lone returning starter is Stefanos Spartalis, who averaged 10.7 points and 5.1 rebounds as a freshman. Rice, who is beginning his 16th season as Monmouth's coach, added Ashton Walker from La Salle and Jakai Sanders from Le Moyne in the offseason. Walker made the Atlantic 10's all-rookie team last season after averaging 8.2 points and 3.8 rebounds. Sanders averaged 10.7 points in 29 games and scored 23 points against Monmouth on Nov. 29 --Field Level Media