St. John’s signs N.C. State transfer Ian Steere (UPDATED)

By ADAM ZAGORIA

Five days after St. John’s landed a pledge from former N.C. State freshman big man Ian Steere, the school announced his signing on Wednesday.

“We are excited about Ian’s decision to join the St. John’s men’s basketball program,” said Head Coach Chris Mullin. “Ian is a skilled big man who can make an immediate impact on our team next season because of his athleticism, physicality and basketball experience.”

The 6-foot-9, 250-pound Fayetteville, N.C., native is eligible after the first semester of the 2019-20 season, but will seek a waiver to play beginning in the season because he played just five minutes in N.C. State’s season-opening 105-55 win over Mount St. Mary’s, scoring four points and grabbing four rebounds.

“I’m pretty confident that I’m going to get a waiver to play immediately in November [2019],” he said Friday by phone. “We’re going to try and get that, but we’ll see what happens.”