St. John’s Basketball Has Date, Venue for Iona Game

The St. John's Red Storm and Iona Gaels are facing off early in the season.

Dec 13, 2025; Queens, New York, USA; St. John's Red Storm guard Ian Jackson (11) looks to drive past Iona Gaels guard Denver Anglin (2) in the second half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Recently, the full schedule for the St. John’s Red Storm men’s basketball team in the 2026-27 season was released.

For the first time in program history, the Red Storm will be playing all of their Big East home games at Madison Square Garden. They will play 15 total before the Big East tournament, including two exhibition games. They will kick things off with a night game against the DePaul Blue Demons on Dec. 19.

Before their conference schedule gets underway, St. John’s will be playing three exhibition games and at least 11 non-conference games. There could be some changes depending on how deep the Red Storm advance in the Players Era Festival being held in Las Vegas the week of Thanksgiving.

That tournament could have an impact on the non-conference game scheduled against the Columbia Lions, one of the local teams that St. John’s plays. Along with Columbia, another New York school that the Red Storm will face off against is the Iona Gaels, and now the date and venue for that matchup have been revealed.

When will St. John's play against Iona?

Dec 13, 2025; Queens, New York, USA; St. John's Red Storm center Handje Tamba (44) shoots over Iona Gaels forward Matt Reed (1) in the second half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

St. John’s will host Iona at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 8 in their second game of the season, following their opener against the Monmouth Hawks on Nov. 2. While the date and venue are revealed, the start time and television information will be revealed at a later date.

This will be the second straight year that the Red Storm host the Gaels at MSG. Last season, the game was held on Dec. 13 and St. John’s came away with a dominant victory, winning 91-64.

Oziyah Sellers, who has transferred to the SMU Mustangs and is seeking a fifth year of eligibility, was the leading scorer with 19 points. He was one of six Red Storm players to score in double digits. Iona guard CJ Anthony led all scorers in the game with 20 points.

Mark your calendars 🗓️

St. John’s vs. Iona on November 8 at @TheGarden 🏟️

You can purchase a MSG Plan to secure your seats! ⬇️

🎟️: https://t.co/50nNoJShHM
🗞️: https://t.co/Brhxga2c8z pic.twitter.com/kYRiRbshOd

— St. John's Men’s Basketball (@StJohnsBBall) September 24, 2026

This is a matchup that head coach Rick Pitino certainly has circled every time they show up on the St. John’s schedule. He was the head coach of the Gaels for three seasons before taking over the job with the Red Storm.

Iona was excellent with Pitino at the helm, going 64-22. They made the NCAA tournament twice as the MAAC tournament champions in 2021 and 2023. The Gaels were regular-season champions in 2022-23 and 2023-24.

In conference play, Iona went 40-9 under Pitino as the cream of the crop in the MAAC. He has brought that success along with him to Queens as the back-to-back Big East regular-season and tournament champions.