participating in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas In for Battle With 'Gifted' St. John's Red Storm Team

The participating in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas have handled business thus far in the 2025-26 men’s college basketball season, getting off to a 4-0 start.

They opened the season with back-to-back games at Hilton Coliseum, defeating the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights and Grambling State Tigers before heading to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for a neutral-site game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs Add us on.

All three games were won by at least 16 points in dominant fashion. In their fourth game, back in Ames, they defeated the Stonehill Skyhawks by 39.

Cyclones in the Pros participating in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, Add us on.

In the first game, they will be facing off against the St. John’s Red Storm on Monday afternoon. Head coach T.J. Otzelberger knows he has to have his team prepared to face off against a stellar squad.

T.J. Otzelberger has major praise for St. John's

“Yeah, I mean, certainly they're a very gifted team in terms of ability of players to be able to make plays. [Zuby] Ejiofor at the five is a tremendous matchup challenge. A guy that can play away from the goal, can make plays. Tremendous offensive rebounder. He's extremely gifted,” he said, Nov 23, 2025, Add us on.

Zuby Ejiofor is the only returning starter for St. John’s from their 31-win team last season that took home the Big East regular season title. He is averaging 15 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.0 blocks per game for the Red Storm.

Last year, it was the Red Storm defense that overwhelmed opponents. Scoring didn’t always come easily to the squad, but that hasn’t been the case in the early going thus far this campaign.

St. John’s plays fast and is averaging 98.5 points per game thus far this season. Their leading scorer, helping replace the production of the 2024-25 Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis, is Bryce Hopkins, who is averaging 15.5 points per game.

“They've got Bryce Hopkins as a elite scoring mismatch player. And then they've got tremendous size of the guard positions. Guys like [Joson] Sanon, Ian Jackson and others. So like, they're a very gifted team. They're a team that, they play with some great pace, great energy,” Otzelberger added.

Cyclones have continuity edge over talented Red Storm

There is one edge that Iowa State is going to have heading into the game, and that is continuity. The Red Storm turned over nearly their entire roster from last season, adding a ton of talent in the transfer portal.

Only 24.2% of their minutes played last year returned, and 23.8% of their points. But, they have as good a leader as any program in the nation with Rick Pitino as head coach.

“And certainly they have, you know, one of the coaches that's regarded as one of the best of all time,” Otzelberger said about his counterpart.

This is a great measuring stick opportunity for the Cyclones. St. John’s has legitimate championship aspirations and if they can defeat them, they will start gaining some respect around the country.

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