Kadary Richmond and Deivon Smith were the big additions to the transfer portal.

RJ Luis and Simeon Wilcher were the key returnees, the former finally healthy and the latter praised for his improvement after a quiet freshman season.

On Thursday night, however, Zuby Ejiofor was the best St. John's player. No wonder Rick Pitino named him the starter weeks ago.

The 6-foot-1 forward, Joel Soriano's backup last season, was a one-man team in a 91-85 exhibition game win over Rutgers and star freshmen Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper at Jersey Mike's Arena , which destroyed the interiors.

“When I first got him, they said he was a 12-foot (jump shot) player and a little limited in his abilities. I think you can see what he can do,” Pitino said after Ejiofor scored 27 points, 13 rebounds and a 3-pointer to come from behind to win. “I tried to get him to stand out more and make open 3s. He made one and said he wanted to keep his percentage up.”

There were plenty of positives for the Johnnies after a shaky first half that included a 22-0 run by Rutgers.

Wilcher performed well, scoring 15 points and six rebounds. Richmond (nine points, nine rebounds, six assists) and Smith had their moments, especially late when the Johnnies finished with a 14-2 run.

Luis' jumper looked better and he had 22 points, six rebounds and three assists. Bailey and Harper combined for 45 points for Rutgers, but were thwarted late by the Johnnies.

Buy Ejiofor was the story.

He was dominant on both ends of the court and looked like a player ready to make a huge leap.

“I love Zuby, he’s my buddy. He's been my roommate since last year. “It’s just great to be on the floor with him more this year than last year,” said Luis. “I feel like Zuby has taken on a big role. He is a captain, he is a leader. I’m really happy for him.”

St. John's was ahead in many key statistics, from rebounding (plus nine) to transition points (plus nine) to points in play (plus 16) to second chance points (plus four).

They trailed for most of the game, trailing by 13 points early in the second half.

Pitino only went deep seven times after halftime. He treated it like a real game in the final minutes.

“It was a great win for us,” Pitino said. “I wanted to see the character of our basketball team and I saw it tonight. I'm really proud of that. … Last year, we weren’t ready at the beginning of the year. That’s why we wanted to take everyone with us in the first half, but play for the win in the second half.”

There were areas where Pitino needed improvement.

There were nine turnovers in the first half.

St. John's needs to bring in big backups Vince Iwuchukwu and Rubey Prey so Ejiofor doesn't have to be on the court all the time. Smith and Richmond are still getting used to each other.

But in the first game of this new group, it handled the adversity well and showed some of the reasons why Pitino believes the ceiling is high.

“As Coach P said, a win like this shows a lot about who we are as a team, our character. We dug deep tonight,” Ejiofor said. “We made some changes in the second half that ultimately gave us the win. We never gave up. It was one possession at a time.”