St. John's to Celebrate Historic Big East Titles at Season Opener

St. John's men's basketball returns to action on Monday, November 2, 2026, facing Monmouth at Carnesecca Arena. The No. 13 ranked Red Storm will open the season by celebrating a historic run in the Big East conference. According to Newsday, the university will hold a pregame ceremony to unveil banners for the 2026 Big East Tournament title and the 2026 Big East regular season title, which the team won outright. Newsday reports that St. John's is the first program in the history of the conference to win both titles in consecutive seasons. As part of the festivities, five returning players will receive championship rings: sophomores Fotis Konstantinitis and Casper Pohto, and juniors Lefteris Liotopoulos, Ruben Prey, and Ian Jackson. Jackson, a transfer from North Carolina, told Newsday that he wanted to be part of a winning environment at a high level. The school is also providing "Back-2-Back" title pennants to the first 3,000 fans who enter the arena. The game is scheduled to tip off at 6:30 p.m., though the school has suggested fans arrive by 6:15 p.m. to see the full ceremony. Coming into the opener, the Red Storm holds an undefeated record in four previous matchups against Monmouth, most recently winning 88-83 in December 2021, according to Yahoo Sports. KenPom projections give St. John's a 98% chance of victory with a predicted score of 87-65. The program enters the season with significant individual momentum. Yahoo Sports notes that Tounde Yessoufou has been named to the Naismith National Player of the Year preseason watch list, while Yessoufou, Quinn Ellis, and Keyshawn Hall all made preseason award watch lists for their positions. Expectations for the season are high across major sports outlets. Yahoo Sports reports that The Athletic projects St. John's as a 3-seed in the tournament, while ESPN, CBS Sports, and On3 project them as a 4-seed and 5-seed, respectively. On the personnel front, Yahoo Sports reports that Kyle Cuffe, Jr. did not participate in any preseason scrimmages for unknown reasons. Meanwhile, the program continues to recruit top talent; five-star recruit Malachi Jordan has placed the Red Storm in his top three programs, and four-star prospect Godson Okokoh is scheduled for a visit this weekend. --- HOT covers what Americans are searching for most right now. Sources: Newsday: https://www.newsday.com/sports/college/st-johns/2026-big-east-banner-ceremony-eggzgevu; Yahoo Sports: https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/game-thread-st-john-men-173557861.html. Machine-written by gemma4:31b-cloud from those reports. Fact check against them by gpt-oss:120b-cloud.