St. John's forward Dillon Mitchell, center, laughs in the locker room with St. John's guard Ian Jackson, right, on Saturday, March 21, 2026 at Viejas Arena in San Diego. Photo by Nick Krug

SAN DIEGO — The player most familiar with Kansas on the St. John’s roster is quite clearly Zuby Ejiofor.

That’s not a surprise. Ejiofor played for the Jayhawks as a freshman during the 2022-23 season, transferred out in search of greater opportunities elsewhere and has since blossomed into arguably the top player in the Big East Conference.

But when it comes to knowing KU well, Dillon Mitchell might be a close runner-up. The 6-foot-8 forward, Ejiofor’s partner in the Red Storm’s frontcourt, previously played at Texas for two seasons and Cincinnati for one more. Ejiofor played 129 minutes as a freshman at KU. Albeit from the outside looking in, Mitchell has played 99 minutes across his five separate battles with the Jayhawks.

“Definitely fun games,” Mitchell said on Saturday. “They were physical, big. They’ve always been a bigger team. Playing at Allen Fieldhouse, it gets rough over there, I’m not going to lie. That’s a tough place to play. But just their physicality, how big they’ve always been, this is one of the teams that they’ve played really fast, so that’ll be a little bit different, but I think it’s something that we’ll be ready for.”

If the Johnnies are to curtail that pace — a newfound aspect of KU’s game this year from Mitchell’s perspective — he will have to have a lot to do with it. His defense, he said, is his “calling card.”

“We played against Dillon the last three years, and so we know how athletic he is,” KU coach Bill Self said, “and it’s hard to simulate that type of athleticism until you actually play against it.”

Now a senior, the forward from Tampa, Florida, isn’t averaging gaudy numbers at 8.2 points and 7.0 rebounds — they’re about in line with what he posted when he was starting at Cincinnati and Texas. But as St. John’s wing Bryce Hopkins put it, “He’s a big key to what we do on a day-to-day basis.”

“We wouldn’t be where we are today without Dillon Mitchell,” Hopkins said, “what he brings with his IQ … and his unselfishness, the ability to get a rebound and push in transition, stuff like that, and man, guard their toughest matchup on the opposing team.”

It’s hard to say how much time Mitchell will actually be able to spend hampering KU’s star guard Darryn Peterson given that the Jayhawks play two big men of their own in Flory Bidunga and Bryson Tiller, who will likely match up with Mitchell and Ejiofor at least some of the time, various switches permitting. But Mitchell faced plenty of questions in the St. John’s locker room all the same about his thoughts on Peterson, who scored 28 points in Friday’s first-round win over Cal Baptist.

“It’s NBA moves, pro moves that he does,” Mitchell said. “He can score it at all three levels. Just his pace, he’s able to get guys in foul trouble, which is something we all got to make sure we know he does that.”

The Johnnies are looking for their first trip beyond the first weekend in 27 years. Mitchell has as much experience with deep postseason runs as anyone on the transfer-heavy roster of St. John’s. His freshman year, Texas went on a charge to the Elite Eight under then-interim coach Rodney Terry. The Longhorns, who beat KU two out of three times that year — an 88-80 loss in Lawrence, a 75-59 win in Austin, Texas, and then a 76-56 win in the Big 12 tournament final when Norm Roberts was leading the Jayhawks — were a No. 2 seed and managed to beat Colgate, Penn State and Xavier before falling to Miami.

Mitchell and the Longhorns lost to the 2023-24 KU team in their final matchup before Texas departed the Big 12 Conference, 86-67 at Allen Fieldhouse on Feb. 24, 2024. Mitchell did not himself leave the Big 12, however, transferring to Cincinnati the following year. He was the Bearcats’ leading scorer in a defensive battle at Fifth Third Arena on Jan. 11, 2025, with a whopping 10 points, as KU won 54-40.

He said it’s fun to go up against familiar teams and play styles, even when he himself is wearing a different jersey.

“It’s always a good experience,” Mitchell said. “That’s what’s awesome about it, just being with the guys every day and playing teams that you know, I’ve played before, like Kansas, so understanding how they play. It’s always fun to be playing around this time of the year.”

Tipoff for his sixth and final opportunity to face the Jayhawks is set for 4:15 p.m. Central time on Sunday at Viejas Arena.