St. John’s will face Iowa State and Baylor in the first two of its three contests at the 2025 Players Era Championship in Las Vegas to be held on Nov. 24-29.
The Red Storm will meet a pair of 2025 NCAA Tournament teams out of the Big 12 on Nov. 24-25. The Johnnies will take on an expected top-25 team in Iowa State on Monday, Nov. 24 at 4 p.m. ET. The following day, St. John’s will clash Baylor for the second straight year in a multi-team event (MTE) in a 5 p.m. ET tip-off from Las Vegas. The third and final contest will be determined based on results of the first two games.
The new look @StJohnsBBall team that is No. 1 in some preseason polls and has the No. 1 portal class
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) July 1, 2025
Via @steve_masiello pic.twitter.com/dt2fBn4lNX
The second annual Players Era Festival features an 18-team field with many of the top programs from across the country. 10 of the 18 programs are ranked in CBS Sports’ Top 25, including St. John’s at No. 1. The winner of the event will earn a $1 million-dollar grand prize.
Arena designations, broadcast destinations and additional ticket information will be released at a later date. The opponent for the third matchup will be determined based on seeding and each team’s two-game record.
St. John’s will battle Iowa State for just the third-time ever and the second over the last four seasons. The Johnnies and Cyclones faced off in the Big 12-BIG EAST Battle at Hilton Coliseum on Dec. 4, 2022, where then-No. 23/23 Iowa State grabbed a 71-60 victory. St. John’s won the first-ever matchup, 71-47, on Dec. 21, 1948 at Madison Square Garden. Head Coach Rick Pitino has faced the Cyclones once in his career, leading Kentucky past Iowa State, 106-98, in the 1992 NCAA Tournament Second Round in Worcester, Mass.
The Johnnies will then face Baylor for the second time in as many as seasons on the following day. The Red Storm fell to the Bears in its opening game of the Baha Mar Hoops Championship in double overtime, 99-98, on Nov. 21, 2024. St. John’s will face Baylor for the fourth time in the history of the two programs and are seeking its first victory over the 2021 National Champions since the first-ever contest in a 83-82 triumph on Dec. 7, 1978.
Led by the 2024-25 National Coach of the Year in Pitino, the Red Storm is coming off a historic campaign where it tied a program record with 31 wins, captured the BIG EAST Regular Season and Tournament titles and earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Johnnies loaded up for the 2025-26 campaign bringing in the No. 1 transfer portal class according to ESPN and 247Sports and return four players highlighted by All-BIG EAST First Team selection Zuby Ejiofor.
(Release via St. John’s)
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