Rick Pitino, St. John's land commitment from top high school recruit Malachi Jordan
St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino yells “Be Strong” to his players in the second half of a preseason exhibition men’s basketball game against the Texas Longhorns at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 25. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Malachi Jordan, one of the nation’s top high school recruits, made his final decision on Election Day and cast his vote for St. John’s.
Jordan, a 6-7 wing playing at Prolific Prep in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., announced on Tuesday morning that he committed to the Red Storm. He posted a video on social media with his end of an apparent mock phone call with St. John’s coach Rick Pitino that ends with Jordan saying to the camera, “Alright, say less — I’m a Johnnie.”
🙏 https://t.co/0w6T2caaFj
— Malachi Jordan (@malachijordannn) November 3, 2026
He picked the 13th-ranked Red Storm over his two other finalists, No. 17 Kansas and No. 24 Vanderbilt. He recently played in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League and averaged 10.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
Considered one of the 25 best high school players according to various websites, he surpasses Simeon Wilcher as the top prep recruit that Pitino has landed during his four seasons leading the Storm. He also is considered a better high school recruit than former coach Steve Lavin’s best, Rysheed Jordan.
Jordan took an official visit to St. John’s 10 days earlier and was at the Garden to watch the Storm’s dominant exhibition victory over No. 7 Texas on Oct. 25.
Pitino hadn’t made recruiting high school players a top priority in building his Red Storm teams, favoring the use of the NCAA transfer portal because he said older, more experienced players were the fastest path to success. However, there could be rule changes afoot that would end the current possibility for players to transfer each year and perhaps limit them to one move without requiring them to sit out a season.
“We think the rules are going to change – we’re looking into more high school recruiting,” Pitino said in an Oct. 23 news conference. “I could see us taking three players from the high school ranks next year.”
Most of Pitino’s first-year players have been from Europe and not North American high schools, though he did bring in for this season 6-11 Theo Edema, who could develop into an option at center.
Just before he declares for St. John’s in his social media video, Jordan is seen speaking into his cell phone and says, “I really need a coach who's going to develop me, who's going to push me every single day, be relentless with me, be very honest with me. Just a coach who can just really get it out of me. Do you feel like you can do that for me, Coach?”
A clip of Pitino from the debut episode of NOBULL Coach's Corner with Mike Repole then plays, in which Pitino says, "Your work ethic has to be incredible, second to none. All I'm going to do is get you to reach your potential . . . you will become a man, you will not be afraid of adversity, you'll look it straight in the eye and you'll handle it, because of what I will put you through in the one to two, three years."
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
