St. John’s Sweet 16 hero returning after March Madness breakout

St. John’s basketball lost one March Madness hero as Dylan Daring left for Grand Canyon University. But head coach Rick Pitino and company managed to keep one valuable contributor to the Sweet 16 run: Ruben Prey.

The Red Storm will welcome back the towering sharpshooter, with his reps at Klutch Sports confirming the move Monday via DraftExpress.

“Brought great energy off the bench while flashing improved mobility and shooting (15/24 from 3). Key retention with a chance for a role uptick,” DraftExpress posted on the social media website X, formerly Twitter.

Prey indeed flashed when called upon by the past national title winning head coach. The native of Portugal nailed all four of his 3-point attempts against Duke despite taking the East Regional semifinals loss.

Prey delivered four games of surpassing double figures, including the Blue Devils contest. But he hit an average of 8.3 PPG during the NCAA Tournament with 10 total rebounds and executing one block versus Duke.

The 6-foot-11, 230-pounder saw limited action most of the season, though. Largely because Pitino built a senior and graduate transfer heavy roster. Lead scorer Zuby Ejiofor is now off to the NBA Draft after completing his senior campaign. St. John’s second-leading scorer Bryce Hopkins arrived as a grad student and walks away averaging 13.6 points per game.

Prey will be a junior when he returns to the Storm. He’ll earn a chance to lead the Johnnies to a school-record third straight Big East Conference championship.

Expectations rose for Red Storm basketball in Queens, NY. The Red Storm fielded the nation’s top-ranked College Basketball Transfer Portal class one year ago. St. John’s received a No. 7 top 25 prediction already for next season.

The post St. John’s Sweet 16 hero returning after March Madness breakout appeared first on ClutchPoints.