A very noteworthy preseason exhibition is finally set in stone after months of teasers from Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino.
St. John’s is scheduled to take on Michigan in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden as part of the Bad Boy Mowers Series on Saturday, October 25. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. and broadcast information is to be determined.
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Both the Red Storm and Wolverines are expected to be ranked in the top ten in the first preseason poll after the two teams cleaned up in the transfer portal this offseason.
Head coach Dusty May brought in a class headlined by two-time All-AAC First Team honoree and UAB transfer Yaxel Lendeborg, who signed with St. John’s out of junior college during the 2022-23 season but opted out of his national letter of intent after the firing of Mike Anderson.
Other transfer additions include former five-star prospect and North Carolina point guard Elliot Cadeau, who will match up with his former backcourt partner Ian Jackson in October, impressive sophomore Illinois power forward Morez Johnson Jr., and 7-foot-3 behemoth Aday Mara from UCLA.
That quartet of transfers joins seniors Roddy Gayle Jr. (9.8 ppg in 2024-25), Nimari Burnett (9.4 ppg), and Will Tschetter (6.4 ppg) on a veteran-laden roster expected to contend for the Big Ten crown.
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Although this October’s game won’t count on the ledger, St. John’s are hoping to avenge their last meeting with Michigan on November 13, 2023, when the Wolverines routed the Red Storm by a score of 89-73 and spoiled Rick Pitino’s Madison Square Garden debut with the Johnnies. Nimari Burnett, who will be one of two remaining Michigan players from that game to play in this season’s exhibition, scored all of his career-high 21 points in the first half of the blowout.
Tickets are available for pre-sale today on Ticketmaster using the code MSGHoops and will be available to the public at 12 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday.
