Maybe Zuby Ejiofor has begun to find his game.
That’s the hope after the big man finally woke up in the second half of No. 22 St. John’s 66-45 win over Wagner at Carnesecca Arena.
Benched at the start for Vince Iwuchukwu, the 6-foot-9 Ejiofor came alive late with all eight of his points, three rebounds, a blocked shot and a steal in 17 second-half minutes.
“The last couple games have not met the expectations of myself and the coaching staff. I haven’t been playing with a lot of energy and we’re still trying to figure that out,” Ejiofor said. “The second half I thought we played a lot better, myself included.
“I’ve had talks with the coaching staff. I felt like today was a good stepping stone as far as bringing energy and doing what I’m capable of doing.”
One of two St. John’s co-captains, Ejiofor entered the season with a new role as a junior. He rarely played as a freshman at Kansas and was Joel Soriano’s backup last season. This year, he is expected to be the guy at center for the Johnnies.
“He’s never been a mainstay player at Kansas or here, and he’s got to get used to it,” coach Rick Pitino said. “They’re going to come after him.”
Pitino didn’t start two of his best players, Kadary Richmond and RJ Luis, because he wanted to get a look at some other players ahead of a challenging stretch of games that begins Sunday against New Mexico at the Garden. Instead, Brady Dunlap and Aaron Scott started in their place.
“I know Kadary’s ready to play, I know RJ’s ready to play. I wanted to see some other lineups,” Pitino said. “[Kadary will] start probably every single game the rest of the season. I wanted to experiment a little bit, see certain things.”
Pitino is hoping the game against New Mexico and his son, Richard, draws up to 15,000. But so far, a number that high is unlikely.
“I hope the people get in and see this game, because we’re going to need them,” he said. “We need to get the subway alumni back. We’ve got great fans, but we don’t have a lot of them.”
