Keyshawn Hall Scores 26 in Debut as No. 13 St. John's Beats Monmouth 78-63

Keyshawn Hall needed about 40 seconds to introduce himself to Queens. The Auburn transfer scored seven straight points to open the night, made each of his first six shots, and had 20 by halftime as No. 13 St. John's beat Monmouth 78-63 on Monday at a sold-out Carnesecca Arena.

Hall finished with 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting, a perfect 7-of-7 at the line and nine rebounds in 33 minutes. It was the kind of debut that makes a fan base forget, at least for one night, how much walked out the door this offseason.

And Rick Pitino, naturally, spent the postgame explaining everything that went wrong.

Banners Up, Roster Reset

Before tipoff, St. John's unveiled the hardware from a season that reset expectations in Queens: back-to-back Big East regular-season and tournament titles, plus the 2026 NCAA Tournament run that ended in the Sweet 16, the program's first since 1999. That team won 30 games.

This one is a different animal. Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell are gone, Hall is one of 11 newcomers, and Pitino, now in his fourth season, did not pretend to know what this roster is yet. According to The Torch, St. John's student newspaper, Pitino told the players the day before the opener, "I have nothing to gauge with you guys. I don't know who you are; you don't know who I am."

The early returns were promising. At one point early on, the scoring tally read Hall 7, Monmouth 2. St. John's pressed from the opening tip, forced four turnovers in the first four minutes and raced to a 16-4 lead. The Red Storm made seven of their first eight shots, and Hall scored nine of those first 16 points. When Hall buried a three to make it 31-16 with about nine minutes left in the half, it looked like a laugher.

The Hall Show, Then the Fade

Hall was everything Pitino could have asked for in the first half, scoring from all three levels and living at the line. St. John's went 15-of-17 at the free throw line before the break, and piled up nine first-half steals, the kind of easy offense a press is designed to produce. It was 45-29 at halftime.

Then the game got sticky. Monmouth outscored St. John's 34-33 in the second half, and the Red Storm's half-court offense went flat once the press stopped producing layups. St. John's shot just 41.9 percent for the game and 6-of-20 from three. Starter Rubén Prey went 0-of-5, and Zsombor Maronka, the international prospect who got the start at power forward, missed both shots in 14 minutes. Maronka started over Baylor transfer Tounde Yessoufou, who was nursing a calf issue.

Pitino didn't sugarcoat it. "Offensively, we were stagnant," Pitino said. "We played as if we had Shaquille O'Neal in the post."

That's a very Pitino way of saying the Red Storm kept trying to play through a post presence they don't currently have. Center depth was flagged as a concern going into the year, and Monday didn't settle it.

Ian Jackson Wakes Up

The second-half spark came from the guy who was supposed to be the headliner. Ian Jackson, a preseason first-team All-Big East pick and one of five returnees from last year's Sweet 16 team, spent most of the first half on the bench in foul trouble. He made up for it after the break, scoring 13 of his 15 points in the second half on a night he went 6-of-12 overall and 3-of-5 from deep.

His defining moment came with St. John's clinging to a 59-47 lead with 9:07 to play. Jackson hit two threes in 56 seconds, and the Monmouth push was over. He eventually fouled out after 22 minutes, but by then the work was done.

Yessoufou, who missed two practices with a calf issue that Pitino called minor, came off the bench for 12 points and five rebounds and went 5-of-6 at the line. Quinn Ellis, the point guard from England, ran the show with eight points, seven assists and five steals, and Pitino singled out Ellis and Hall as the two players on the roster with a high basketball IQ.

Where It Was Won

The official box score (opens in a new tab) tells a simple story. St. John's won the margins that come from effort and athleticism, and gave some of it back by being ordinary in the half court.

Turnovers. Monmouth committed 18, and the Red Storm piled up 14 steals. Points off turnovers went to St. John's, 21-14.

Second chances. St. John's grabbed 12 offensive rebounds and won the glass 40-31, good for a 16-6 edge in second-chance points.

Transition. The press and the steals fueled a 16-4 edge in fast-break points.

The line. St. John's went 20-of-25 at the stripe while Monmouth managed only 14 attempts and made seven.

The paint. A 38-28 advantage, closer than you'd expect from a top-15 team at home.

The bench. Basically a wash, 27-25 in favor of St. John's, with Yessoufou doing most of the lifting. For a roster with 11 newcomers, Pitino will want more from the back end of the rotation, where Lefteris Liotopoulos went 1-of-6 and Babacar Sane and Reed Bailey chipped in five points apiece.

For Monmouth, Jakai Sanders was terrific, scoring 17 on 5-of-7 shooting, including 4-of-5 from three, though Sanders also committed seven turnovers. Madison Durr came off the bench for 15, Ashton Walker added 11, and the Hawks shot 42.9 percent from the floor and 8-of-20 from deep. That's a CAA team that went into a sold-out building against a ranked opponent and won the second half. It's not a bad night's work, and it gives the Hawks something to build on in just the fifth meeting ever between these two programs.

What It Means

For St. John's, the debut of Hall is the headline, and it should be. Pitino needs a go-to scorer with Ejiofor gone, and Hall looked like one, carrying the offense for an entire half before anyone else found a rhythm. Ellis gives the Red Storm a steady hand, Jackson remains the most talented returner, and Yessoufou looks like a useful piece once healthy.

But Pitino's honesty is the more interesting takeaway. Pitino said there's no predicting what this team will look like in March, adding, "Last year, I knew we were going to be good." Pitino also said the group has the makings of a good team but still has to be taught how to play. That's not a coach managing expectations. That's a coach describing a roster in the very early stages of being built.

The press is clearly going to be an identity piece. The half-court offense is clearly a work in progress. Center play is a question. All three of those things will get a real test soon.

Next up for St. John's is Iona, Pitino's former program, on Sunday, Nov. 8, the first of 13 regular-season home games at Madison Square Garden. Monmouth faces Rhode Island on Saturday, Nov. 7. For more, read St. John's recap (opens in a new tab) and Monmouth's recap (opens in a new tab).

The Take

St. John's opened 1-0 with a star debut and a coach who sounded like the team had lost. That's probably healthy. Last year's team arrived fully formed. This year's has a scorer in Hall, a floor general in Ellis and a lot of pieces that haven't figured out how to fit together. Pitino has made a career out of turning rosters like this into March teams. Monday was day one of that project, and the hard part hasn't started.

Sources: Monmouth Athletics box score, St. John's Athletics, the Associated Press, ESPN, The Torch, Sports Illustrated. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: St. John's Athletics.