Rick Pitino "thrilled" as St. John's lands Cincinnati forward in latest transfer portal move

St. John's Red Storm coach Rick Pitino has been working to get the team into a better position for next year after a disappointing March Madness exit. Despite entering the tournament as a No. 2 seed, the Red Storm lost in the second round to No. 10 Arkansas.

As a result, Pitino is looking to make changes with the help of the transfer portal. On Wednesday, Pitino made a major announcement on X, saying that the Red Storm has received a commitment from Cincinnati forward Dillon Mitchell. Pitino expressed his excitement in the post.

"We are thrilled to have Dillon Mitchell join our basketball family," Pitino wrote. "Pound for pound, inch for inch one of the hardest working and most productive players in the nation. He brings great experience and talent to our team. Extremely pumped."

Mitchell entered the transfer portal a year after joining the Cincinnati Bearcats. He spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons with the Texas Longhorns.

In his only season with the Bearcats, Mitchell started all 35 games, averaging 9.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Now that he is joining a much more talented St. John's team, it will be interesting to see how he slots into the roster. He has started every game in his three-year college career except for one in his sophomore season.

Dillon Mitchell is the fifth member of St. John's transfer portal class

Rick Pitino has been working hard to ensure the St. John's Red Storm has a strong team next season. Mitchell was the fifth player to be added to the team's roster through the portal this year.

Mitchell joins an elite class of transfer players at St. John's, including North Carolina's Ian Jackson, Providence's Bryce Hopkins, Arizona State's Joson Sanon, and Stanford's Oziyah Sellers.

All five players recruited by Pitino this offseason were ranked within ESPN's top 100 players in the transfer portal. These players are expected to all play significant minutes alongside Zuby Ejiofor, returning to the Red Storm after a breakout 2025 season where he averaged 14.7 points per game.