St. John’s Basketball Has One Major Strength To Lean on in Season

The St. John's Red Storm are going to be hard to slow down in the frontcourt.

Oct 1, 2026; New York, NY, USA; St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino speaks at 2026 Big East Media Day at Marriott Marquis. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The St. John’s Red Storm played their first game of the season, hosting the Drexel Dragons at Carnesecca Arena in their first exhibition game of the year.

Head coach Rick Pitino had his entire roster available to him, a major development for the Red Storm to have everyone eligible for the time being. The only player who didn’t participate in the game was Kyle Cuffe Jr., who wasn’t present at warmups and was battling some sort of ailment.

There were a lot of takeaways from the performance, a game that St. John’s won 81-52. The biggest was that the Red Storm are going to have a massive advantage at the forward spots, likely any time they take the court.

At small forward, St. John’s has the dynamic Tounde Yessoufou. A five-star transfer from the Baylor Bears, Yessoufou tested the NBA draft waters but withdrew and decided to return to college basketball for the 2026-27 season.

St. John's is loaded at the forward spots

First of many Tounde dunks 🤝 pic.twitter.com/bMnBsFCIb9

— St. John's Men’s Basketball (@StJohnsBBall) October 14, 2026

His addition was a major one for the Red Storm after he averaged 17.8 points per game as a freshman. If he can improve his 3-point shooting, he went 1-for-5 against Drexel, he is going to be unstoppable on offense with his ability to get to the rim and score inside the arc with explosive athleticism.

Joining him in the starting five for the exhibition game was Babacar Sane, who was named a team captain along with Ian Jackson. An international player who is currently eligible because of a temporary restraining order with a hearing set for Nov. 9, Sane was dominant on both ends of the floor.

He scored a game-high 17 points, knocking down three 3-pointers. His three-level scoring was on full display as he shot 5-of-10 from the field and 4-of-6 from the foul line. Listed at 6-foot-7, he made his presence felt on the glass, pulling down a game-high eight rebounds, including two on the offensive end.

Sane rounded out his stat line with two assists, one steal and one block for an excellent two-way performance.

Final box from Sr. John’s pic.twitter.com/3fkeIxNB43

— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) October 15, 2026

As if those two aren’t enough to deal with, St. John’s has another weapon coming off the bench: Keyshawn Hall. All he has done the last three seasons is average 18.3 points on a .449/.365/.839 shooting line to go along with 7.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.

Against the Dragons, Hall had nine points, five rebounds and two assists in just under 20 minutes of action.

Don’t forget Reed Bailey as well, another transfer from the Indiana Hoosiers, who had eight points and five rebounds in less than 14 minutes of action.

Having one player as talented as Yessoufou, Sane or Hall to rely on at the forward spots with Bailey behind them is nice; having all four of them is an embarrassment of riches for Pitino to have to deploy.