Andre Curbelo opens up on leaving Illinois, choosing St. John’s, and his expectations coming home

Andre Curbelo drives inside during St. John’s first exhibition game in Dominican Republic. Illinois transfer will team with Posh Alexander to run Red Storm offense. (Photo by St. John’s University Athletic Communications)

The transfer portal is now as much a part of college basketball as a federal tax return is to working Americans. You take the good with the bad, and hope for the best.

Relative to the hardwood, a refund occasionally pops up when an incoming student-athlete is attracted to a program and is rejuvenated, looking to once again establish himself in a new or otherwise familiar locale. For St. John’s, it may be more of the latter in the case of Andre Curbelo, who returns to the New York area he called home upon arriving from his native Puerto Rico after two seasons at the University of Illinois, who recruited the flashy point guard out of Long Island Lutheran in Brookville.

Curbelo, the Big Ten Conference’s Sixth Man of the Year as a freshman in Champaign alongside eventual first-round NBA Draft pick Ayo Dosunmu, battled through a rocky second season marked not only by a concussion, but the lack of a confidant and positive presence in his immediate proximity following the departure of assistant coach Orlando Antigua — his lead recruiter — to Kentucky, two factors that led him back to the Big Apple.

“It was a tough year, a roller coaster,” Curbelo recalled as he described his emotions and thought process behind leaving the Illini and joining Mike Anderson and the Red Storm, who had shown mild interest in him out of high school before signing Posh Alexander and thus backing off on recruiting Curbelo. “When you’re not able to play for about two months, athletes tend to get a little bit discouraged and down, ‘when am I gonna get back,’ this and that. There were a lot of thoughts in my mind, was I going to get back? Was I going to be the same player? Clearly, I wasn't, but that’s in the past. I just gotta move on with a different mindset. I’m in a different place.”

“Ever since my concussion sophomore year, I started feeling a certain way. When things don’t go your way and you don’t have that support system — Antigua had left, so I didn’t really have a person over there — I feel like I struggled a little bit more. I don’t have anything to hide, I felt alone.”

Upon entering his name in the portal following Illinois’ NCAA Tournament exit last March, Curbelo rekindled a relationship with St. John’s assistant coach Van Macon, who was the point man in his initial recruitment two years ago and offered the trust and guidance he had sought since Antigua rejoined John Calipari in Lexington.

“I see him like an Antigua guy when I was back at Illinois,” Curbelo said of Macon and their bond. “I definitely feel that vibe with him and I’m just very thankful. I rely on that relationship a lot because he probably knows more than anybody else what I was going through at Illinois. We spoke about it, and my guardian, Jay David, I’m sure they spoke about it on the phone. Having that relationship is definitely very valuable, and throughout that recruiting process, it was just great to hear from (Macon). I felt like I could trust him, and I felt that his words were wise and he meant them. It definitely helped a lot, for sure.”

“When you’re in the transfer portal, a lot of people reach out, ‘come here, come there,’ but for me, I just wanted to be home with the right people because at the end of the day, you have to make it a mental game. And with me, if you’re not mentally right, you’re not really going to perform the way you want. So coming home and having that right support system is going to help me go out there every night and feel like my family’s always in the stands.”

A high-energy personality with an ebullient smile and ever-present charisma, Curbelo is instantly recognizable on or off the court. And as far as needing to remind everyone who he is as a player, he believes that to not be necessary, as his work ethic and drive will breed success inherently.

“I’m going to say this: I’ve got nothing to prove, to be honest,” he reiterated. “I don’t think I have anything to prove. I think I’m aware of who I am and the kind of player that I am. All I gotta do is go out there with my teammates and give it my all, and the job will take care of itself. If anything, I’m going to come in more positive, smile a little more. All that helps me.”

Curbelo and Anderson have both been asked several times already this summer about the dynamic with Alexander, and how St. John’s will be able to coexist with two point guards running its offense. Anderson dismissed the notion of it being a hindrance, citing his prior two-headed floor general attacks at Arkansas as proof that such a formula was conducive to long-term results. His new backcourt addition was more pragmatic in his response, crediting his teammates for making his assimilation smoother as he counts the days before the Red Storm tips off against Merrimack on November 7.

“A lot of people are probably going to ask themselves, ‘how is this going to work?’” Curbelo revealed. “We’re getting along really good, and (Alexander) makes it easier. The guys are welcoming, but sometimes when I’m the new kid in town, I tend to get a little shy until I figure everything out, but they’ve made the process pretty easy.”

“I’m very hungry. I can’t wait. I’ve been telling everybody that I’m itching to play, and people that know who I am know that I’m anxious. I’m ready to play.”