Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic <\/p>\n
Late in St. John\u2019s overtime win over Xavier on Wednesday, Zuby Ejiofor was seen getting on Ruben Prey for being slow to box out on a made free throw.<\/p>\n
It was the latest example of the junior forward\u2019s development as a leader. <\/p>\n
The affable Ejiofor is letting his voice be heard more as he has emerged as one of the best players in the Big East this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to be a more vocal leader on the court for the rest of the guys,\u201d he said over Zoom on Thursday. \u201cI\u2019ve always been a leader by example, but coming out of my comfort zone and being able to be vocal and tell the rest of the guys that this is a really good opportunity we can\u2019t let slip up. Every single game, we\u2019re going to get the best of every single team. I just piggyback on what Coach [Rick] Pitino is really saying.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of three co-captains, along with Kadary Richmond and Sadiku Ibine Ayo, the 6-foot-9 Ejiofor arguably has been the Johnnies\u2019 MVP through 20 games. <\/p>\n
CHECK OUT THE LATEST BIG EAST STANDINGS AND ST. JOHN\u2019S STATS<\/p>\n
He is the team leader in rebounds (8.2) and blocked shots (1.9), and is second in scoring (14.6). <\/p>\n
He also is No. 2 in the country in offensive rebounds per game at 4.5. The numbers are a \u201clittle bit of a surprise,\u201d even to him.<\/p>\n
Ejiofor has been a revelation as a two-way difference-maker after backing up Joel Soriano a season ago.<\/p>\n
St. John\u2019s flirted with adding a starting-caliber big man in the transfer portal in the spring but instead opted for high-ceiling 7-1 center Vince Iwuchukwu from USC. <\/p>\n
There was some thought Iwuchukwu could start after he picked St. John\u2019s in April, but it became clear in summer workouts that Ejiofor would be the guy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a testament to the amount of work I put in, and obviously Coach Pitino\u2019s player development sessions helped a lot as well,\u201d Ejiofor said. \u201cBut this year, I was just going to come in with the utmost confidence in my game to do the things I know I\u2019m capable of doing. \u201cI don\u2019t get too many post touches or anything of that nature, which I for one don\u2019t care about. I just come out and try to play the hardest I can and outwork anybody in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
His biggest contribution is on the defensive end as the backbone to the Johnnies\u2019 fifth-ranked defense in terms of efficiency. <\/p>\n
Ejiofor is a quality rim protector who also can switch out on guards and defend on the perimeter. Xavier coach Sean Miller raved about how rare that is for a big man. <\/p>\n
Ejiofor credited his ability to guard outside of the paint to his footwork.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Pitino] says no 3s, no paint [touches],\u201d Ejiofor said. \u201cI take pride in keeping guys in front and sliding my feet and being able to switch one through five when it comes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Late in St. John\u2019s overtime win over Xavier on Wednesday, Zuby Ejiofor was seen getting on Ruben Prey for being slow to box out on a made free throw. It was the latest example of the junior forward\u2019s development as a leader. The affable<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":178361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-178360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":178362,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178360\/revisions\/178362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}