In a matchup of former UK basketball coaches, Calipari beats Pitino to reach the Sweet 16
In a highly anticipated NCAA Tournament matchup between a pair of former Kentucky basketball coaches, it was John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks that defeated Rick Pitino and the St. John’s Red Storm for a spot in the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Behind a team-high 16 points from freshman Billy Richmond III — a former Kentucky commit from when Calipari led the UK program — No. 10 seed Arkansas secured a 75-66 victory over No. 2 seed St. John’s to make the school’s 15th-ever appearance in the Sweet 16.
The Hogs — who are the first SEC team to nab a spot in the Sweet 16 this year — last made the regional semifinals in 2023 under former head coach Eric Musselman.
Arkansas — which began SEC play with an 0-5 record this season — led St. John’s by three at halftime, 35-32. The two teams combined to shoot just 22-for-74 (29.7%) from the field in the opening half, during which 19 fouls were called.
St. John’s endured a stretch of 14 straight missed shots from the field in the first period.
Star junior forward Zuby Ejiofor — who finished with 23 points to lead all scorers — had 16 of St. John’s 32 points at the break.
The Razorbacks stretched their advantage to double digits less than four minutes into the second period, and the Hogs held on the rest of the way from there, despite that lead being trimmed to as little as two points.
Arkansas scored 46 points in the paint against St. John’s over the 40-minute game, the most the Red Storm had allowed in a contest all season.
It was a woeful shooting night for Pitino’s St. John’s team. The Red Storm shot 28% from the field, 9.1% on 3-pointers and 71% from the foul line. By comparison, Arkansas shot 42.9% from the field, 10.5% on 3-pointers and 70.4% from the foul line.
The two teams combined for only four made 3-pointers.
Arkansas made six more shots from the field (27) than St. John’s (21), despite the Red Storm having 12 more field goal attempts.
One of the major reasons for the upset was an ineffective offensive performance from St. John’s junior guard RJ Luis Jr., the Big East Conference Player of the Year. Luis scored just nine points and went 3-for-17 shooting from the field in Saturday’s loss.
Luis, who entered the game as St. John’s leading scorer with 18.5 points per game, didn’t play in the final 4:56 of the game. St. John’s trailed by two points when Pitino subbed Luis out for the final time, and the Red Storm were outscored by seven points the rest of the way.
Saturday’s game was a foul-heavy affair, with the two teams combining for 58 attempts from the free-throw line.
St. John’s fifth-year guard Kadary Richmond fouled out in just 16 minutes. Richmond — who entered the contest with per-game averages of 12.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists this season — scored five points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out two assists before fouling out with 6:28 to go in the game.
Sophomore Arkansas forward Zvonimir Ivisic, who spent last season at Kentucky with Calipari, also fouled out in short order. Ivisic was whistled for five fouls in just 10 minutes on the floor. He had two points and two rebounds each.
After undergoing right thumb surgery in January, Arkansas star freshman guard Boogie Fland — a former UK signee — continued his comeback from injury against St. John’s. Fland missed 15 games for the Hogs before returning for Arkansas’ first-round NCAA Tournament win over 7 seed Kansas and had six points, three assists and three steals in 24 minutes in the victory over the Jayhawks.
On Saturday, Fland had six points, four rebounds and two assists in 20 minutes against the Red Storm.
Arkansas was once again without leading scorer and former UK player Adou Thiero for Saturday’s game. Thiero — who is averaging 15.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game this season, both team highs — hasn’t played for the Razorbacks since Feb. 22 due to a hyperextended knee. Thiero practiced with the Hogs on Friday and was considered questionable for the St. John’s game.
Arkansas will face No. 3 seed Texas Tech in the Sweet 16 next week as part of the West Regional in San Francisco.
John Calipari takes career head coaching lead over Rick Pitino
With Saturday’s result, Calipari now has a 3-2 career NCAA Tournament head coaching advantage in matchups against Pitino.
Entering Saturday’s second-round contest, Calipari and Pitino had a 2-2 record against each other in March Madness games. Pitino twice beat Calipari in the NCAA Tournament when Pitino was the UK head coach and Calipari led the UMass program. Conversely, Calipari went 2-0 in the Big Dance over Pitino when Coach Cal was at Kentucky and Pitino was at Louisville.
Now, Calipari is 1-0 over Pitino with Cal at Arkansas and Pitino leading St. John’s.
During his pregame press conference Friday, Pitino described the relationship between himself and Calipari.
“I certainly have great respect for him, but we’re not really close,” Pitino said. “Everybody tried to talk that way. It was just a Kentucky-Louisville and Louisville-Memphis thing. We don’t know each other’s wives or children. We’re not really close friends. ... I don’t know a whole lot about him except he’s a terrific basketball coach. ... I don’t think we have been to dinner one time in our lifetime. We’re both Italian, we both love the game. I think that’s where the similarities end.”
Across both NBA and college games, Calipari is now 17-13 all time against Pitino.
Of course, both coaches experienced vastly different reactions this season upon their returns to Rupp Arena in Lexington.
Back in October during UK’s annual Big Blue Madness, Pitino returned to Rupp and received celebratory cheers from a packed crowd there to watch the first Madness overseen by UK coach Mark Pope, who was a captain on Kentucky’s 1996 NCAA title team that was coached by Pitino.
In February, Calipari received boos when he returned to Rupp Arena for the first time following his 15-season tenure leading the Wildcats. Calipari’s Arkansas squad came to Lexington that night and beat Pope’s UK team by 10 points in the only meeting between Arkansas and Kentucky this season.
Both Calipari and Pitino have reached the NCAA Tournament on 24 occasions. Now, only Calipari is still alive with a chance to reach his seventh Final Four, which would match Pitino’s career total.
This season, Pitino became the first head coach in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history to lead six different schools — Boston, Iona, Kentucky, Louisville, Providence and St. John’s — to the NCAA Tournament.
This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 5:42 PM.
