St. John's Basketball Needs to Play Theo Edema Going Forward

The St. John's Red Storm need to play their talented freshman Theo Edema going forward.

Oct 25, 2026; New York, NY, USA; St. John's Red Storm center Theo Edema (23) celebrates after scoring in the second half against the Texas Longhorns at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The St. John’s Red Storm are getting set for their second game of the season on Sunday against Iona. St. John’s will once again be favored to win the game by a significant margin, and the team will be hoping to move to 2-0 on the season. 

In their first game of the season against Monmouth, it was a fairly easy victory for the Red Storm. St. John’s was able to jump them early with some fantastic early pressure, which resulted in turnovers and easy buckets for the team. 

Following the hot start, the Red Storm played pretty even with Monmouth for the rest of the way, but building a double-digit lead in about four minutes was enough to secure the win.  

In the game, there were some interesting lineups that head coach Rick Pitino was playing with. Due to it being the first game of the season and the team having a lot of new faces, testing new lineups will be something that happens in the early part of the season. 

However, one lineup decision that was a bit of a surprise was to not have freshman Theo Edema make his debut. Going forward, that is something that will surely be changed.  

Edema Needs to Play  

Oct 25, 2026; New York, NY, USA; St. John's Red Storm center Theo Edema (23) at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

While talking with the media at practice on Wednesday, Pitino talked about the decision to have Edema not play and that he will be in the lineup more going forward. 

“We have to get Theo ready for Las Vegas because that type of size is going to be there” 

Even though he didn’t play against Monmouth, he was a major factor in the exhibition win over Texas. With both Ruben Prey and Reed Bailey in foul trouble, Edema played quite a bit and was impressive. 

Pitino has not hidden the fact that Prey is more of a power forward than a center and is playing a bit out of position. Fouls have been an issue for Prey as well, and that makes the development of Edema important. 

As a player who reclassed, Edema’s development so far has already been impressive. It was easy to not expect much from the freshman this year, but he has instead proven that he can play a role for this team. 

With the size to be a center already in college, getting Edema minutes and working on that development will be important. St. John’s seemingly has a very talented big man in Edema; now they have to help put him in the best position to succeed.