Moments before they renewed their decades-long rivalry, Rick Pitino and John Calipari met near midcourt and shared a few laughs. But by the end of Saturday’s slugfest in the NCAA Tournament’s second round, Calipari was the only one with a reason to smile. A storybook season for Pitino’s second -seeded St. John’s came to a sudden end as Calipari’s 10th-seeded Arkansas pulled off a 75-66 upset in Providence, R.I. St. John’s (31-5) shot just 28% from the field and went 2-of-22 from 3-point range. “They were the better team,” Pitino said of Arkansas. “They outplayed us. They deserve to move on and we don’t. That’s what March Madness is all about.” It was a particularly rough afternoon for RJ Luis Jr., the Big East of the Player, who finished 3-of-17, including 0-of-3 on 3-point attempts, for nine points in 30 minutes. Amid his struggles, Luis spent the game’s final 4:56 on the bench. The nine-point loss was the largest of the season for the Red Storm, whose previous four defeats came by a combined seven points. “It sucks. I felt like we could have been better in a lot of areas,” said Zuby Ejiofor, who led St. John’s with 23 points and 12 rebounds. “Yeah, it just sucks.” St. John’s shot 29.7% on 3-point attempts this season but had frequently overcome that deficiency behind Division I’s fourth-best offensive-rebounding unit and the country’s most efficient defense. But Arkansas presented athleticism and size unlike anything the Red Storm had experienced. The Razorbacks blocked seven shots and disrupted many more as St. John’s missed 17 lay-ups. “We haven’t faced that type of length and athleticism this year,” Pitino said. “That’s not the reason we lost the game. We lost the game because we did not move the basketball enough and that led to us shooting a very low percentage.” The game took on a hyper-physical tone from the opening tip, causing starters from both teams to get into foul trouble. Do-it-all guard Kadary Richmond played only 16 minutes for St. John’s before he fouled out, while four fouls limited 6-11 Arkansas forward Jonas Aidoo to 22 minutes. Arkansas dominated near the basket, scoring 46 points in the paint. The Razorbacks had nine lay-ups or dunks in the first nine minutes of the second half. Freshman forward Billy Richmond III led Arkansas with a career-high 16 points off the bench, while fellow freshman Karter Knox added 15. Despite finishing 21-of-75 from the field, St. John’s kept the score close thanks to 28 offensive rebounds that led to 25 second-chance points. The Red Storm trailed, 66-64, when Pitino pulled Luis for good in favor of 6-10 freshman forward Ruben Prey. “Rick did a great job with his team all year,” Calipari said. “If they made a few shots, they probably beat us.” Saturday marked the fifth NCAA Tournament meeting between Pitino and Calipari, who split the previous four. The prior bouts included the 1996 Final Four, where Pitino and Kentucky defeated Calipari and UMass; and the 2012 Final Four, where Calipari’s Kentucky team beat Pitino-led Louisville. The Hall of Fame coaches’ head-to-head meetings date back to 1992, but they had not squared off since 2016. Pitino fell to 10-14 against Calipari at the college level. The win was Arkansas’ biggest in its first season under Calipari, who coached at Kentucky the previous 15 years. Calipari defeated another Hall of Fame coach, Bill Self, in Thursday’s 79-72 win over Kansas in the first round. Meanwhile, Saturday’s loss served as a rude awakening in a dream season for St. John’s in its second year under Pitino. After being picked to finish fifth in the Big East preseason coaches’ poll, the Red Storm surged to an 18-2 record in conference play, tying for the most wins in league history. They won their first outright Big East regular-season championship since 1985 and their first Big East Tournament since 2000. This was the Johnnies’ first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2019. Their 83-53 victory over No. 15 Omaha in Thursday’s opener was their first win at the Big Dance since 2000. But Saturday’s loss made St. John’s the first top-two seed to be eliminated from this year’s tournament. “There were a lot of great moments this year,” Pitino said. “You wish that you could go out playing better offensively, but that’s the breaks of the game. Give them credit, move on and see what happens in the future.” ...read more read less