Syracuse men's basketball will square off with former Big East Conference rival St. John's in mid-November in the Big Apple, as Inside the Loud House reported last week.
There are numerous Orange-related storylines to follow in this non-conference encounter. One unfortunate one is that former SU power forward Donnie Freeman, who had transferred to the Red Storm this offseason, will not be available due to an injury.
On July 1, St. John's head coach and former 'Cuse assistant Rick Pitino said via social media that the 6-foot-9, 205-pound Freeman, who played two seasons at Syracuse, would miss the entire 2026-27 campaign after suffering a non-contact injury during a workout and then having successful Achilles tendon surgery.
Even with Freeman being out, the Red Storm is projected to be a top team in the Big East and nationally. On Tuesday night, amid all the legal battles playing out around the country regarding a fifth season of eligibility for class of 2022 athletes, St. John's landed a transfer forward to help replace the void left by Freeman's absence.
BREAKING: Indiana transfer forward Reed Bailey has signed with St. John's, @PeteNakos reports⛈️https://t.co/2Q0xALaIss https://t.co/rSkJeWr4rm pic.twitter.com/08fpFVPIB6
— Transfer Portal (@TransferPortal) August 18, 2026
Per Pete Nakos of On3, other reports and then confirmed by St. John's Athletics, the Red Storm has added Indiana transfer forward Reed Bailey, who played this past season for the Hoosiers and, before that, three campaigns at Davidson.
Syracuse basketball has a huge non-conference tilt against St. John's this November.
The Orange and the Red Storm will play on Sunday, Nov. 15, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, a source confirmed to Inside the Loud House last week. Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports first reported the date of this game, which pits first-year head coach Gerry McNamara and SU against St. John's and its Hall of Fame head coach, Pitino.
The 6-foot-10 Bailey joins a Red Storm program that has won at least 30 contests in back-to-back seasons under Pitino. In 2025-26, St. John's went 30-7 overall, claimed a share of the Big East regular-season title, won the Big East Tournament crown and reached the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16.
As a senior for Indiana last season, Bailey averaged 19.1 minutes, 8.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game while making 57.0 percent from the field, 25.0 percent from beyond the arc and 75.7 percent from the free-throw line. Coincidentally, the Orange also will face Indiana in a non-conference affair in 2026-27; that game is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 9, at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Since Bailey, a native of Harvard, Mass., has already played four seasons in college, the NCAA's new 5-for-5 eligibility model, approved earlier this summer, doesn't afford him a fifth season of eligibility as a member of the 2022 prep class.
However, in late July, a preliminary injunction was issued by a federal judge in Colorado that provides a fifth season of eligibility to 2022 athletes, assuming they want one and with certain parameters. Bailey's situation is somewhat similar to Quinnipiac senior wing/forward Amarri Monroe, who has committed to Syracuse basketball and is relying on the class-wide injunction in Colorado, at least as far as I can tell.
Additionally, according to a report from Nakos in late July, Bailey was among more than 50 college basketball players who were named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the NCAA over eligibility in North Carolina.
Legal experts have told Inside the Loud House that players who attach their names to a state case likely have a better shot of being able to compete for the entire 2026-27 season. Some experts say that the preliminary class-wide injunction issued last month in Colorado may not hold for the entirety of 2026-27.
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