Zuby Ejiofor has triple-double for No. 15 St. John's against Villanova

Zuby Ejiofor has triple-double for No. 15 St. John's against Villanova Zuby Ejiofor’s penultimate regular-season home game at St. John’s was certainly a memorable one By MIKE FITZPATRICK AP sports writer March 1, 2026, 1:08 AM NEW YORK -- Zuby Ejiofor's penultimate regular-season home game at St. John's was certainly a memorable one. The senior big man had 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his first career triple-double as the 15th-ranked Red Storm bounced back from an embarrassing defeat by routing Villanova 89-57 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. “It means everything to have this type of performance, especially with my family in the crowd as well,” Ejiofor said. The 6-foot-9, 245-pound Ejiofor, who also blocked three shots, had the fifth triple-double by a St. John’s player since the 1985-86 season, the school said. It was the second in the past 26 years, after Kadary Richmond had one in the regular-season finale last year at Marquette. Ejiofor, the preseason Big East player of the year, said it was probably his first triple-double in organized basketball. “Incredible for the 5-man on your team to get 10 assists. But he is the team leader in assists. And he was very well rested because he took a day off against Connecticut,” Red Storm coach Rick Pitino said, prompting chuckles at his postgame news conference. St. John’s was coming off a 72-40 loss Wednesday night at No. 6 UConn, where the Johnnies shot 20% and missed their last 24 field-goal attempts over the final 17:27 in by far their largest defeat in three seasons under Pitino. That ended a 13-game winning streak — the longest for the program in 41 years. In a game that got away quickly in the first half, Ejiofor finished with six points, four rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes. He took only five shots from the field. It was a much different story against Villanova “You knew Zuby wasn’t going to come out and lay an egg," Wildcats coach Kevin Willard said. “He was phenomenal defensively, t...