The St. John’s Men’s Basketball team will play the first of two preseason exhibition games on Wednesday at Carnesecca Arena, welcoming Adelphi to Queens for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
The contest will air live on ESPN3 with Ralph Bednarczyk and Tarik Turner on the call.
General admission tickets to the contest can be purchased for $10 at the Carnesecca Arena box office.
The Red Storm will welcome the Division II Panthers on Wednesday for the team’s first outside competition of the 2022-23 academic year. Adelphi enters its ninth season under the direction of David Duke, a former local Division I assistant at both Hofstra and Fordham. Last season, the Panthers started 17-6, 11-4 in conference, before a late slide.
The Red Storm and the Panthers squared off twice during the first season of varsity basketball at St. John’s in 1907-08 with the Johnnies claiming a pair of victories. Despite their close proximity, the two teams have not met in the intervening 115 years.
St. John’s returns nine letterwinners, including four of the team’s top six scorers, from last year’s squad that went 17-15.
A Preseason First Team All-BIG EAST selection, Posh Alexander ranked second on the team last season with 13.8 points per game behind only Julian Champagnie (19.2 ppg). His 5.5 assists per game were good enough for second in the league and 19th in the country while his 2.3 steals per contest led the BIG EAST and ranked 11th nationally.
In addition to the team’s veteran core of returners, the Johnnies are also set to welcome five newcomers, highlighted by widely touted transfers Andre Curbelo (Illinois) and David Jones (DePaul). AJ Storr, the 84th ranked recruit in the class of 2022, headlines a three-man freshman class that includes Kolby King and Mohamed Keita.
After taking on the Panthers, the Red Storm will host another exhibition on Saturday when it faces off against Southern New Hampshire University. Tip-off for that contest, which will also be available on ESPN3, is set for 6 p.m.
For more information on the St. John’s Athletics Department fans are encouraged to click on the link seen here:
St. John’s University Athletics – Official Athletics Website (redstormsports.com)