Pitino (L) Calipari (R) Clash Of The Big Time Head Coaches
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Samori Benjamin
RJ Wakes Up In Second Half In Rout Of Omaha
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
After 25 years St John’s University has won an NCAA Tournament game again. After a rough first half where they trailed by a few points several times before finishing the first half with a five point lead, the Johnnies outscored Omaha University 50-25 in the second half to win 83-53. The 30 point margin was their largest ever in NCAA Tournament play.
Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. scored 22 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, both game highs, for St. John’s. “The whole team, we came out very tight, had a little bit of of nerves, you know this is a big time tournament and a lot of the guys on the team this was their first time playing. So I think it was just a little bit of nerves but we cleaned it up in the second half and we got back to our identify which is defense and we brought up the pressure,” Luis Jr. said after the game. “We just got to go back and learn from our mistakes this game and prepare for Saturday.”
Saturday will be a big time matchup for St John’s in round 2 as they face the University of Arkansas and their head coach John Calipari who is a long time friend, foe, and rival of St John’s Head Coach Rick Pitino. Calipari and Pinto have met 23 times as coaches with Calipari holding a 13-10 advantage.
This year however Arkansas will go into the matchup as the tenth seeded team in their tournament region with St John’s having the better season and the number two seed in the region.
“I’ve always had greats respect for John. I told our team that we have not seen this type of size and this type of athleticism all year, we have not seen that,” Pitino said of Arkansas. “I don’t go against coaches we go against teams, he doesn’t have to worry about me, my jump shot’s long gone. So he’s got to prepare for our team, we got to prepare for his players, he’s preparing for our players. John and I don’t play one on one anymore.”
Both coaches have won National Championship’s. With Pitino winning one at Kentucky in 1996 and and one at Louisville in 2013. Calipari won a championship with Kentucky in 2012.
Both coaches are the only two in college history to take three different schools to the Final Four. Arkansas also features New York City product and top NBA prospect Boogie Fland.
Tip time for these two schools will be 2:20 Saturday afternoon.
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