“Zu-By, Zu-By, Zu-By,” the red-clad St. John’s followers chanted because the Johnnies ahead took the ground Friday.
“Zu-By, Zu-By, Zu-By,” they roared each time the ahead made a constructive play.
“Zu-By, Zu-By, Zu-By,” they screamed as he checked out for the final time.
Twenty-four hours after Zuby Ejiofor’s two missed free throws within the last seconds contributed to No. 22 St. John’s heartbreaking loss to No. 13 Baylor, the Purple Storm followers had his again.
“Obviously, it was a surprise to me, to my family, I felt good, and I really wanted to thank the fans of St. John’s for making me feel good and making me feel warm inside,” the junior mentioned after St. John’s bounced again with an 80-55 rout of Virginia within the Baha Mar Hoops Championship comfort sport. “There aren’t lots of [fans] which can be going to do this.
“Obviously, last night was really emotional for me. For them to chant my name and make me feel good before tip-off, I couldn’t play anywhere else.”
Ejiofor didn’t put up large numbers — eight factors, 9 rebounds, two blocks and two steals — however he was strong.
St. John’s outscored Virginia by 34 factors in his 26 minutes.
After a gradual begin this 12 months, he has come on.
The 6-foot-9 Ejiofor was terrific in Sunday’s win over New Mexico and produced 22 factors, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks towards Baylor.
However all he may take into consideration have been his two missed free throws with 4.1 seconds to go within the second extra time that enabled Jeremy Roach to beat St. John’s on the buzzer.
He broke down after the setback because the Johnnies left the ground.
“It was pretty hard,” Ejiofor mentioned. “Obviously, I would love to have that back.”
He instructed himself that he needed to overlook about it and never let it impression the sport towards Virginia. Ejiofor didn’t anticipate a lot assist.
Neither did coach Rick Pitino.
“Sometimes when you’re only at a place for one year, you search for things you love about a place, and tonight, I found out what I love about St. John’s since being here,” the Corridor of Fame coach mentioned. “To chant Zuby the whole game, that doesn’t happen anywhere [else] in America. I was really, really impressed with our fans and thanked them for making Zuby feel good.”
