Zuby Ejiofor much more than just most improved in record-setting performance for No. 6 St. John's

NEW YORK (AP) — Maybe most improved didn't really do Zuby Ejiofor justice.

The junior forward delivered an overpowering performance Friday night for No. 6 St. John's, scoring a career-best 33 points — a school record in the Big East Tournament — as the Red Storm rolled into the conference championship game for the first time in 25 years with a 79-63 victory over No. 25 Marquette.

“The big dog over here just was tremendous. Last night, he got a little frustrated because he didn’t get the ball much, and tonight he just showed unbelievable leadership every timeout,” St. John's coach Rick Pitino said.

“I don’t know what was better, his play or his leadership tonight. They were both pretty extraordinary.”

After winning the Big East Most Improved Player award this season, Ejiofor took only four shots Thursday in a 78-57 quarterfinal blowout of Butler, finishing with four points and seven rebounds.

In truth, the Johnnies didn't need much from him in that one. But they fell behind by 15 early against fifth-seeded Marquette in the semifinals — before Ejiofor took over.

Dominating the Golden Eagles down low and running the floor with abandon, the Kansas transfer from Garland, Texas, went 11 of 15 from the field with an array of purposeful post moves and thunderous dunks. He shot 11 for 12 at the foul line.

The team co-captain added nine rebounds and three assists in 38 minutes, providing just the boost St. John's (29-4) needed to pull away and win easily in the end. He scored six of the Red Storm's first nine points in the second half — and 11 straight for the Johnnies to help them open a 64-54 lead with 7:42 left.

“He keeps us going all the time, whether it’s bad or good,” teammate Aaron Scott said. “He stays solid. He never gets too low, never gets too high. Stays sane, and that’s what we need each and every game, and that’s what he brings.”

When he came out off the court with seconds left, the 6-foot-9, 240-pound Ejiofor grinned as he received handshakes from teammates, and the sold-out Madison Square Garden crowd let loose with a chorus of “Zooooooob!!”

“It was just an amazing feeling, and I got it early. I just want to thank my coaching staff and my teammates for putting me in the position to be successful,” said Ejiofor, also a first-team All-Big East selection this season. “They told me to come out and be a lot more aggressive than I did last game, and that’s exactly what I did. So I just want to give all the props to them.”

It was the most points for a player in a Big East semifinal since Kemba Walker scored 33 for UConn against Syracuse in 2011. Ejiofor also became the first St. John's player since Walter Berry in 1986 with at least 30 points and nine rebounds in a postseason game.

Ejiofor set his previous career high with 28 points against Kansas State on Dec. 7, but he was a particular thorn in Marquette's side as St. John's swept all three meetings this season.

That included an 86-84 overtime victory in Milwaukee last weekend on Ejiofor's buzzer-beater in the lane.

“Zuby Ejiofor was the best player on the floor. He was terrific today,” Golden Eagles coach Shaka Smart said Friday night.

Coming off the program's first outright Big East regular-season title in 40 years, the Johnnies hold the top seed at the conference tournament for the first time since 1986.

Seeking their fourth Big East Tournament championship and first since 2000, they'll play Saturday night against second-seeded Creighton, a 71-62 winner over No. 3 seed UConn in the semifinals.

“It’s been a crazy ride,” Ejiofor said. “We want to be in these moments."

Ejiofor played little as a freshman at Kansas, averaging 5.2 minutes in 25 games, before leaving for St. John's when Pitino took over. Last season, Ejiofor was an energetic and useful backup to Red Storm center Joel Soriano, himself a winner of the Big East Most Improved Player award and a second-team all-conference choice in 2023.

After averaging 4.3 points and 3.1 rebounds a year ago, Ejiofor grew into a much larger role this season and became a huge reason for the resurgence at St. John's.

“When Zuby came in, I put him through a hard player-development session. First thing I noticed is he never complained about the drills. He went through it. Then he shot the ball really well. I said to his dad, I said, ‘I got myself a hell of a player here.’ He said, 'I’ve been telling everybody Zuby can shoot.' I said, ‘Well, Zuby can do a lot of things,'" Pitino said.

“But every coach wants to have a player like him — selfless, just cares about the team. You get blessed in coaching him. I’m coaching 50 years and there are very few Zubys that come along that just think about the team. Whether he scores 33 or three, it’s all about the team. Every timeout, he’s saying something positive to the guys. ... We’re lucky to have him. He’s our captain."

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St. John's's Zuby Ejiofor (24) looks toward the stands during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against the Marquette in the semifinals of the Big East tournament Friday, March 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

St. John's's Zuby Ejiofor (24) defends Marquette's Kam Jones (1) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Big East tournament Friday, March 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

St. John's's Zuby Ejiofor (24) shoots over Marquette's Ben Gold (12) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of the Big East tournament Friday, March 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

St. John's's Zuby Ejiofor (24) smiles after scoring during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against the Marquette in the semifinals of the Big East tournament Friday, March 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

St. John's's Zuby Ejiofor (24) looks to pass during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against the Marquette in the semifinals of the Big East tournament Friday, March 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV celebrates his first Mass on Friday after his historic election as the first North American pope, meeting with the cardinals who chose him to lead the Catholic Church and follow in Pope Francis’ social justice-minded footsteps.

Leo, the Chicago-born Augustinian missionary Robert Prevost, surprised the world Thursday when he emerged on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica as the 267th pontiff, overcoming the traditional prohibition against a pope from the United States.

The 69-year-old wore the traditional red cape — which Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013 — and trappings of the papacy, suggesting a return to some degree of rule-following after Francis’ unorthodox pontificate.

But in naming himself Leo and referring to some of Francis' more social justice-minded priorities, the new pope could also have wanted to signal a strong line of continuity: Brother Leo was the 13th century friar who was a great companion to St. Francis of Assisi, the late pope’s namesake.

“Together, we must try to find out how to be a missionary church, a church that builds bridges, establishes dialogue, that’s always open to receive — like on this piazza with open arms — to be able to receive everybody that needs our charity, our presence, dialogue and love,” Leo said in near-perfect Italian in his first comments to the world.

Francis, the first Latin American pope, clearly had his eye on Prevost and in many ways saw him as his heir apparent. He sent Prevost, who had spent years as a missionary in Peru, to take over a complicated diocese there in 2014, then brought him to the Vatican in 2023 to head of the Vatican’s powerful Dicastery for Bishops, which vets bishop nominations around the world and is one of the most important jobs in church governance.

Earlier this year, Francis elevated Prevost into the senior ranks of cardinals, giving him prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals had.

There had long been a taboo on a U.S. pope, given America’s superpower status in the secular world. But Prevost prevailed, perhaps because he’s also a Peruvian citizen and had lived for two decades in Peru, first as a missionary and then as bishop.

As if to drive that home, Leo spoke in Italian and Spanish from the loggia, but not English.

Since arriving in Rome, Prevost had kept a low public profile but was well-known to the men who count. Significantly, he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope.

In a 2023 interview with Vatican News, the then-cardinal said the women had enriched the process and reaffirmed the need for the laity to have a greater role in the church.

“Even the bishops of Peru called him the saint, the Saint of the North, and he had time for everyone,” said the Rev. Alexander Lam, an Augustinian friar from Peru who knows the new pope.

The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers Thursday when white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel shortly after 6 p.m. on the second day of the conclave. Waving flags from around the world, tens of thousands of people were surprised an hour later when the senior cardinal deacon announced the winner was Prevost.

U.S. President Donald Trump said it was “such an honor for our country” for the new pope to be American.

“What greater honor can there be?” he said. The president added that “we’re a little bit surprised and we’re happy.”

That said, Prevost has shared criticism of the Trump administration 's migration policies: In past social media posts, Prevost shared articles criticizing Vice President JD Vance's justification of the administration's mass deportation plans.

The last pope to take the name Leo was Leo XIII, an Italian who led the church from 1878 to 1903. That Leo softened the church’s confrontational stance toward modernity, especially science and politics, and laid the foundation for modern Catholic social thought. His most famous encyclical, Rerum Novarum of 1891, addressed workers’ rights and capitalism at the beginning of the industrial revolution and was highlighted by the Vatican in explaining the new pope’s choice of name.

That Leo also has close ties to the Augustinian order: He rebuilt an ancient Augustinian church and convent near his hometown of Carpineto, outside Rome, which is still in use by the order today.

Vatican watchers said Prevost’s decision to name himself Leo was particularly significant given the previous Leo’s legacy of social justice and reform, suggesting continuity with some of Francis’ chief concerns. Specifically, Leo cited one of Francis’ key priorities of making the Catholic Church more attentive to lay people and inclusive.

“He is continuing a lot of Francis’ ministry,’’ said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, the chair of religious studies at Manhattan University in the Bronx. But she also said his election could send a message to the U.S. church, which has been badly divided between conservatives and progressives, with much of the right-wing opposition to Francis coming from there.

“I think it is going to be exciting to see a different kind of American Catholicism in Rome,’’ Imperatori-Lee said.

Leo, for his part, in a 2023 interview with Vatican News said the polarization in the church was a wound that needed to be healed.

“Divisions and polemics in the church do not help anything. We bishops especially must accelerate this movement towards unity, towards communion in the church,” he said.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda, of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, told reporters he never thought he would see an American pope, given the questions of how he would navigate dealing with a U.S. president, especially someone like Trump.

“And so I just never imagined that we would have an American pope, and I have great confidence that Pope Leo will do a wonderful job of navigating that,” he said.

Leo's brother, John Prevost, was so shocked that his brother had been elected pope that he missed several phone calls from him during an interview Thursday with The Associated Press. He called the pope back and Leo told him he wasn't interested in being part of the interview.

John Prevost described his brother, a fan of Wordle, as being very concerned for the poor and those who don’t have a voice. He said he expects him to be a “second Pope Francis.”

“He’s not going to be real far left and he’s not going to be real far right,” he added. “Kind of right down the middle.”

Leo was expected to celebrate Mass with cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on Friday, deliver his first Sunday noon blessing from the loggia of St. Peter’s and attend an audience with the media on Monday in the Vatican auditorium, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

Beyond that, he has a possible first foreign trip at the end of May: Francis had been invited to travel to Turkey to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea, a landmark event in Christian history and an important moment in Catholic-Orthodox relations.

The new pope was formerly the prior general, or leader, of the Order of St. Augustine, which was formed in the 13th century as a community of “mendicant” friars — dedicated to poverty, service and evangelization. Vatican News said Leo is the first Augustinian pope.

In Peru, he is known as the saintly missionary who waded through mud after torrential rains flooded the region, bringing help to needy people, and as the bishop who spearheaded the lifesaving purchase of oxygen production plants during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“He has no problem fixing a broken-down truck until it runs,” said Janinna Sesa, who met Prevost while she worked for the church’s Caritas charity.

Franklin Briceno in Lima Peru, Obed Lamy and Hallie Golden in New Lenox, Ill, Colleen Barry in Schiavon, Italy and Vanessa Gera and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Faithful hold a photo of Bishop Robert Prevost, who was elected Pope Leo XIV, in front of the Cathedral of Chiclayo, Peru, Thursday, May 8, 2025, where he served as bishop for several years, (AP Photo/Manuel Medina)

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV waves to faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square shortly after his election, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP)

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, left, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, appears with, from left, Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Cardinal Vinko Puljić on the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican shortly after his election as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, left, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, appears with, from left, Master of Ceremonies Archbishop Diego Giovanni Ravelli, and former Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin on the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican shortly after his election as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)