Providence transfer Bryce Hopkins has committed to the St. John's basketball program, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.
Hopkins chose St. John's basketball over Georgetown, the other school that he visited during this process. Georgetown coach Ed Cooley coached Hopkins in 2022-23 during his last season as the head coach at Providence, but ultimately was unable to secure his commitment to Georgetown in the transfer portal.
For St. John's, Hopkins joins Arizona State transfer Joson Sanon as reinforcement joining the Red Storm for the 2024-25 season.
Hopkins has dealt with knee troubles over the past two seasons. His 2023-24 season was cut short with a torn ACL, and he played in just three games this past season, making sure that he is healthy long-term. Hopkins said he feels healthy now.
“My knee is 100 percent now,” Hopkins said, via Zach Braziller of the New York Post. “I feel like sitting out the rest of the year really helped me out a lot, because it gave me time to fully heal myself to the point where I feel like myself again.”
To start his college career, Hopkins was at Kentucky, but did not earn much playing time, causing him to transfer to Providence, where he earned All-Big East honors in 2022-23. He is remaining in the Big East now, but will play for Rick Pitino's program that is trying to continue to build momentum off of a very successful 2024-25 season. Pitino posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, to express his excitement for the addition of Hopkins.
“We are so excited to have Bryce Hopkins part of our family. He epitomizes everything I love in a basketball player; Passionate, Hungry, and Driven. Can't wait to work with him! Will become a great one for St John's,” Pitino wrote.
St. John's might not be done in the transfer portal as well. With RJ Luis likely departing, securing Sanon and Hopkins this early on is good work from Pitino's staff. The program is hosting Silas Demary Jr., a transfer guard from Georgia, on Monday, with Big East rival UConn also in the running for the guard.
It will be interesting to see how Pitino rounds out the roster. With Hopkins now in the fold, St. John's is off to a solid start this offseason.