When Rick Pitino listed his starters for the first St. John’s game of the preseason, one omission stood out.
Bryce Hopkins, one of the marquee names in the Johnnies’ touted transfer class, was not among the first five in their Oct. 18 exhibition against Towson.
“He’s trying to be good, and I want him to be great,” Pitino said ahead of that 73-63 win in Queens. “I want him to have a Mamba mentality, and he doesn’t have it. If he develops that, he’ll be one of the premier players in the country.”
The “Mamba mentality,” of course, refers to the alpha mindset made famous by Kobe Bryant.
“He’s been good and solid the entire summer and now,” Pitino said of Hopkins. “I’m not after good and I’m not after solid. I’m after great and passionate.”
Unlocking greatness in Hopkins, a 6-7 forward with NBA aspirations, could be the key to the Red Storm meeting the sky-high expectations that await them this season, which begins Monday night against Quinnipiac at Carnesecca Arena.
St. John’s starts the season ranked No. 5 in the AP Top 25 and was the preseason favorite in the Big East coaches’ poll.
Hopkins, 23, spent the previous three seasons at Providence, where he was selected for the All-Big East first team as a sophomore in 2022-23.
But Hopkins suffered an ACL tear in his left knee in January of 2024, ending his junior season after 14 games. Hopkins returned in December, but he appeared in only three games before he was shut down for the rest of his senior season with a bone bruise in the same knee.
Hopkins, a graduate transfer playing on a medical redshirt, says the time off left him with something to prove, but he’s also receptive to Pitino’s plea for him to develop a killer instinct.
“It was definitely tough being out,” Hopkins said during last month’s media day. “That was my first time going through a serious injury and stepping away from the game for that long, and [when Pitino was] recruiting me, he was just telling me that he wants me to come in, be aggressive, and let the game come to me.”
After spending his freshman year at Kentucky, Hopkins averaged 15.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game over his three seasons at Providence.
Last month, Hopkins was named to the Preseason All-Big East first team — the highest accolade for any St. John’s player other than senior forward/center Zuby Ejiofor, who is the conference’s Preseason Player of the Year.
“Bryce, he’s gonna be elite for us,” said Dillon Mitchell, a senior forward who transferred from Cincinnati.
“He’s a strong dude getting downhill. It’s hard to stop him when he’s at full momentum. But that just gets me better at the defensive end, having to guard him every day.”
But Hopkins has heard from his share of doubters, too.
He’s aware of the Providence fans who bemoaned his lack of availability last year and criticized him for transferring to a Big East rival.
“I see it. I try not to let it get to my head,” Hopkins said.
“There’s always gonna be a chip on my shoulder. I know what I bring to the table. I haven’t played in a while, so yes, I want to prove something, but I’m not gonna do anything out of body.”
Off the bench against Towson, Hopkins scored a team-high 13 points with six rebounds, four assists, a block and three steals in 27 minutes.
He then started the Red Storm’s second and final exhibition game — a 96-94 overtime loss to No. 7 Michigan — and scored 13 points on 3-of-11 shooting with nine rebounds in a team-high 40 minutes.
“I knew that coming in with so many great players, there was gonna have to be sacrifices being made,” Hopkins said ahead of the exhibition slate. “If it’s me that has to come off the bench, I’m fine with that. When I get my chance to go onto the court, I’m gonna just do what I do.”
