Roger Rubin: Rick Pitino, St. John's hope Ruben Prey can fill void left by Zuby Ejiofor
St. John's Ruben Prey looks on against the Texas Longhorns in the second half of a preseason exhibition men’s basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 25, 2026. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It’s only been a New York minute. So it’s way too early to jump to any conclusions about Ruben Prey.
The 6-11 junior has been handed a daunting assignment this season for No. 13 St. John’s. He is the new starting center and replaces one of the program’s all-time greats in Zuby Ejiofor. And he gave no one any reason to think he wouldn’t succeed after his high-level performances during the Red Storm’s run to the 2026 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
But it would be unrealistic to think Prey’s success was going to look exactly like Ejiofor’s. Prey gives effort in games and practices hard to improve, just as Ejiofor did. But they are different players. Ejiofor had brute strength for all to see in his rebounding and he developed excellent offensive skills during his years at St. John’s. Prey has arrived with a refined offensive game, a sweet outside shot and array of low post moves, and he has been working on the brute strength part of it.
Prey didn’t play well on offense in either the exhibition victory over No. 7 Texas and then had two points on 0-for-5 shooting with four rebounds, no blocked shots and three turnovers in 25 minutes of the season-opening win over Monmouth on Monday. Coach Rick Pitino said he stayed with Prey, and didn’t play impressive 6-11 freshman Theo Edema, because, “I was trying to give Ruben some confidence.”
“[Prey] is a little down right now, and he should not be because he's practicing great,” Pitino said before the Red Storm practiced Wednesday at the Garden. “One game should not get you down. ... There’s nobody I’m more confident in than Ruben because he brings it every single day . . . He's going to have a good year. He's not Zuby, but he's going to be a highly effective basketball player for us.”
Patience may be the advice here because Prey was more upset with himself than anyone after the opener.
“I was definitely mad after the game because I do have a high standard for myself, but I wouldn't say my confidence is affected by it,” Prey said. “I think definitely I should improve in my rebounding [and] that's my focus right now. I also think I'm having good looks on the low post and missed a couple last game. But my defense is solid so [I’m] going to keep on grinding and trying to get more rebounds.”
Asked about taking only one three-point attempt Monday, Prey said, “The defenses know that I can shoot it right now. Last year, they would give me space. I don't like to force my three-point shots. I take them when I'm open. I haven't found many open looks.”
Prey also doesn’t need to be St. John’s “ride-or-die” at center because they have 6-10 Indiana transfer Reed Bailey, and Edema, of whom Pitino said, “he’s going to be in the lineup forever now.”
Edema is 255 pounds and physical on defense and on the backboards. Pitino credited his four offensive rebounds against Texas’ big front line for preventing the Longhorns from coming back in the second half. If one is looking for a player cut from the Ejiofor mold and capable of becoming that sort of force, one need look no further than Edema.
“I don't want to put this heat on him by saying this, but he reminds me of Zuby in his first year [at St. John’s], in terms of his personality, his willingness to learn [and] his smile,” Pitino said. Zuby always joked around, and Theo's that way as well. And Theo [is] . . . two inches bigger. But he has a lot of [Ejiofor’s] personality characteristics, and I hope he turns out to be that player.”
St. John’s first five or six games aren’t exactly against behemoths, but they are going to find plenty at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas later this month, beginning with a Thanksgiving Day game against either No. 11 Louisville or No. 19 Texas Tech.
“We have to get Theo ready for Las Vegas because that type of size is going to be there,” Pitino said.
Sadiku Ibine Ayo, the former Storm captain now at Iona, recalled how Ejiofor had some bad games at the start of his junior season and said his advice to Prey would be “don’t think too much.”
“I was always in Zuby’s ears like . . . If he got frustrated, I was like ‘you cannot get frustrated, we need you to win the game,’” Ibine Ayo said in a Tuesday interview. “St John's needs Ruben to be who he is. He's been around [Pitino] for three years. You watch, by like the fifth game, he will get it back.”
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.
