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John Calipari and Rick Pitino have crossed paths many times in their careers.
The two legendary coaches both were compared to each other all throughout their career paths, ranging from rebuilding programs into championship contenders in the Northeast, to playing under the bright lights of Rupp Arena with the Kentucky Wildcats.
They’ve met each other nearly 30 times in their illustrious careers, with Calipari holding a 17-12 advantage, including a Final Four victory in 2012 over Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals.
But given the circumstances, this one has to be up there.
Nobody gave the Razorbacks a chance against the red-hot Red Storm. The team had lost leading scorer Adou Thiero with a knee injury and started out their regular season poorly, opening SEC play with an 0-5 record. They suffered devastating close losses to their ranked counterparts, and even gave last-place South Carolina their second SEC win of the year in a 19-point romp.
St. John’s, on the other hand, entered this game with the complete opposite trajectory. Pitino’s squad rattled off 30 wins in the regular season, tied for the most ever in a regular season. They had scoring threats all across their lineup, with RJ Luis Jr. being named Big East Player of the Year.
Billed in as 7.5 point underdogs, Calipari’s Razorbacks pulled off the shock of the tournament, knocking off the St. John’s 75-66, ending the Red Storm’s dream season.
Freshman Billy Richmond led the Razorbacks with a career-high 16 points and nine rebounds while coming off the bench. Freshman Karter Knox finished with 15 points and four blocks, and Johnell Davis added 13 points.
Zuby Ejiofor led the Red Storm with a double-double, posting 23 points and 12 rebounds. Deivon Smith added 13 points off the bench.
Luis, the team’s leading scorer, was held to only nine points on a poor 3-17 shooting night, leading to him being benched for the last minutes of the game.
St. John’s shooting woes were on full display. With the main criticism being a lack of an efficient three-point shooter entering the tournament, the Johnnies silenced all critics by draining 14 triples at a 37.8% clip en route to a 30-point blowout of the Omaha Mavericks in the first round.
Saturday afternoon could not have been more different.
The Red Storm shot a dismal 9.1% from beyond the arc, only hitting two of their 22 attempts from beyond the arc. They didn’t fare better from the floor, making 28% of their shots from the field.
The Razorbacks defense held Kadary Richmond and Luis to a combined 14 points on 5-24 shooting. Their relentless burst and drives to the paint racked up Richmond’s foul count, with the graduate student eventually fouling out after only 16 minutes of game time.
“They were the better team. They outplayed us and they deserve to move on, and we don’t,” Pitino said.
Arkansas didn’t fare much better. The Razorbacks shot 10.5% from beyond the arc, nailing only two triples. However, they found better efficiency in the field, primarily the paint, shooting 42.9%.
The Razorbacks got off an efficient start, building a lead early and attacking St. John’s in the paint to draw fouls or finish layups at the rim.
St. John’s struggled to score with efficiency despite extending possessions with 28 offensive rebounds. The paint presence of Knox and Tennessee transfer Jonas Aidoo forced difficult putback looks and created numerous possessions of Red Storm players firing multiple layups at the rim that never fell.
“There are some games we played this year where the other team said ‘that was a physical team,’” Calipari said. “I told them it reminded me of that. I know St. John’s is physical, but we’re physical too.”
Arkansas took a three-point lead into the half after freshman Boogie Fland made a layup with seconds remaining in the opening frame. In his return from a thumb injury, Fland finished with six points and four rebounds.
The Razorbacks took that momentum in the second half, building a double-digit lead after rattling off a 14-6 run capped off by an Aidoo and-one.
St. John’s played catchup for the remainder of the half, eventually cutting the lead to four with just over four minutes to play.
After Billy Richmond sank a mid-range jumper to bring Arkansas’ lead back to four off a flare, Fland stole the ball, leading to a D.J. Wagner layup to extend the lead to six.
St. John’s entered panic mode, firing contested threes that caromed off the rim. Despite grabbing two offensive rebounds in a single possession, the Red Storm failed to gain ground on the lead, as Aaron Scott missed two free throws that would have cut the lead to four.
Scott, Smith and Luis, St. John’s three-leading sharpshooters, combined to go 1-11 from beyond the arc. Scott struggled mightly from the field, shooting 1-10 and mustering seven points off one triple and free throws.
As the team continued to rain missed threes, Knox and Davis made their free throws once St. John’s began intentionally fouling to close out the game.
When Billy Richmond was fouled with four seconds left, both teams could feel the result. The Arkansas bench and players ran to their side of the court, leaping as they raised their hands.
Pitino had already made his way to half court to shake hands with his nemesis before the final buzzer sounded.
With the win, Calipari advanced to his 16th Sweet 16 and became the second coach in Division I history to take four different schools to the Sweet 16. Calipari took a UMass team with Marcus Camby to the Final Four, a Derrick Rose-led Memphis squad to the National Championship and countless Kentucky teams to deep runs in the tournament.
He can now add the Razorbacks’ team-effort in his debut season.
“We had a long up-and-down season, so we just all came together, put our egos to the side and just became one heartbeat like (Coach Calipari) said and just play a fearless 40 (minutes),” Billy Richmond said.
Arkansas will now play Texas Tech and JT Toppin in the Sweet 16.
