Texas Longhorns Will Be Great Test for St. John’s Basketball

The St. John's Red Storm are hosting the Texas Longhorns in their final exhibition before the regular season.

Mar 26, 2026; Washington, DC, USA; St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino speaks with the media during a press conference ahead of the east regional of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The St. John’s Red Storm have won their first two exhibition games of the year, defeating the Drexel Dragons 81-52 before a marathon, quadruple-overtime game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 104-99.

In their final tuneup of the preseason, the Red Storm will be hosting the Texas Longhorns at Madison Square Garden. This is an important game for St. John’s because they are going to be challenged in different ways than their first two games.

Following the game against Drexel, head coach Rick Pitino liked what he saw from his team and the upside it possesses. However, he knew tougher challenges lie ahead, given the size and physicality that Rutgers and Texas play with.

Rebounding was a focus for the head coach in the 81-52 victory. The staff will be paying attention to that and using this matchup as a measuring-stick game, similar to how they conducted business last year against the eventual national champion Michigan Wolverines.

St. John's ready for challenge from Texas

Oct 14, 2026; Birmingham, AL, USA; Texas Longhorns center Matas Vokietaitis speaks during the SEC Basketball Tipoff at Grand Bohemian Hotel Mountain Brook. Mandatory Credit: Butch Dill-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“So it's going to be great for us to gauge where we have to improve and get better. So this is a tremendous game for us, much similar to Michigan last year,” Pitino said during a Zoom with St. John’s Red Storm On SI.

A year to the day, the Red Storm hosted the Wolverines at Madison Square Garden for an exhibition. It was an exciting game that went right down to the final whistle, with St. John’s losing by two points in overtime.

While the outcome wasn’t ideal, it gave the team confidence they could hang with the best in the country. The top four scorers from the game, Zuby Ejiofor, Joson Sanon, Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell, have all moved on, so the new players on the team will have a similar opportunity to flourish this year.

Rick Pitino on what the Texas game means on Sunday:

“So it's going to be great for us to gage where we have to improve and get better. So this is a a tremendous game for us, much similar to Michigan last year.”#SJUBB

— Nick Ziegler (@NickZiegler20) October 23, 2026

The Longhorns start 7-foot center Matas Vokietaitis, who will present major challenges for the Red Storm to combat. They also have David Punch, a physical power forward who transferred into the program from the TCU Horned Frogs.

Ruben Prey is the tallest player in the starting lineup at 6-foot-11 and 240 pounds, but is more of a perimeter player with his style.

The only other player projected to be in the St. John’s rotation who is taller than 6-foot-7 is Reed Bailey, who comes off the bench with the second unit. Babacar Sane, whom Pitino is confident will be eligible, and Keyshawn Hall are both listed at 6-foot-7 and will have to make their presence felt on the interior when it comes to rebounding.