St. John’s Signs Graduate Transfer Arnaldo Toro

QUEENS, N.Y. (April 16, 2020) – St. John’s Head Coach Mike Anderson has added another piece to his 2020-21 roster with the signing of graduate transfer Arnaldo Toro. Toro, a 6-foot-8 forward, comes to St. John’s after four years at George Washington University and will be immediately eligible to play for the Red Storm.

A native of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, Toro averaged 6.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in 99 appearances with the Colonials. He currently boasts career totals of 647 points and 611 rebounds. For reference, only 31 players in St. John’s history have tallied more than 600 rebounds with the most recent being Sir’Dominic Pointer (681) from 2011-15.

“We are excited to welcome Arnaldo to the St. John’s Basketball family,” said Anderson. “Arnaldo is a mature player who brings plenty of experience to our program. We believe his physicality and ability to extend the floor will fit our brand of basketball well.”

This past season, Toro averaged 6.1 points and team-high 7.0 rebounds in 18.5 minutes of action per game. He also ranked among the team’s leaders in field goal percentage, sinking 47.6 percent of his chances from the floor. Toro made 24 appearances, 10 of which were starts, scoring in double figures six times with a pair of 20-point showings in back-to-back games against Howard and American in November. Both of those performances were nothing short of phenomenal, as Toro recorded 22 points and 18 rebounds against Howard before posting 20 points and a career-high 24 boards against American. His two dozen rebounds tied a single-game Atlantic 10 record.

Toro played in just seven games, all of which were starts, before going down with an injury as a junior in 2018-19. He averaged a near double-double during that span, posting 10.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per outing. Toro tallied a double-double in the season opener against Stony Brook before finishing his season with a pair against Manhattan and Vermont.

As a sophomore, Toro played in all 33 of George Washington’s games and made a career-high 27 starts. The team leader in rebounding (6.9 rpg) and double-doubles (5), his best outing of the campaign came in November against Kansas State in Las Vegas, where he tallied a season-high 21 points to go along with nine rebounds against a Wildcats team that advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Toro would go on to finish the season averaging 7.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, highlighted by a stretch that saw him record four double-doubles in just five opportunities toward the end of the season.

Toro made 17 starts as a freshman for a GW squad that won 20 games and finished with a 10-8 record in Atlantic 10 action. He had two double-figure scoring outings and grabbed 10 boards twice in a pair of road games at Harvard and Miami. Toro averaged 15.6 minutes per game as a rookie in Foggy Bottom and made an appearance in all 35 contests.

Toro played his high school basketball at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, helping lead the Gray Bees to a 35-2 record, an appearance in the Dick’s High School Nationals quarterfinals and a No. 12 ranking in the USA TODAY Sports Super 25.

Toro also has extensive experience in the Puerto Rican Youth National Team system. In 2014, his 16.0 points and 13.6 rebounds per game helped lead Puerto Rico to a fifth place finish in the U17 FIBA World Championship in Dubai. In seven games at the tournament, Toro recorded five double-doubles and never finished with fewer than nine points or nine rebounds in any one game. That same summer, Toro also averaged 9.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per outing in the FIBA Americas U18 Championship.