John Calipari isn’t new to winning big games in his career, in fact he’s pulled a few surprising upsets this season but even he was a little shocked that his team upset the St. John’s basketball team on Saturday evening in Providence.
The Razorbacks ended the historic season for the Red Storm with a 75-66 triumph in the Round of 32 and fended off a second half rally by the Johnnies, who got within two points on three separate occasions after trailing by as many as 13 points.
“They had 28 offensive rebounds, and we still won, which is crazy,” Calipari said after the game.
St. John’s turned those offensive rebounds into just 25 points after converting just 8-of-25 layups and shot 28-percent (21-of-75) from the floor.
“Rick did a great job with his team all year. If they made a few shots, they would probably beat us. We were fortunate to get out,” he added.
To add to its woeful shooting night, the Red Storm were just 2-for-22 from 3-point range (9.1-percent) and RJ Luis, the Big East Player of the Year, sat for the final 4:56 of the game after Kadary Richmond fouled out with 6:28 left.
“They outplayed us,” Rick Pitino said. “They deserve to move on, and we don't. That's what March Madness is all about. No matter how good a regular season you have, you play this way you're going to get beat.”
Zuby Ejiofor was the only player on St. John’s that showed up, going for 23 points on 7-for-12 shooting as the rest of the team made a total of 14 shots in the loss.
“The fact that we withstood all our foul trouble and were still in the game was a positive sign,” Pitino added. “But offensively we did not share the basketball enough and that was our demise.”
There were just five assists on St. John’s 21 made field goals. It made the same amount of 3-pointers as Arkansas, made more free throws, and committed less turnovers.
“That was one of our poorest jobs offensively…we shot ourselves in the foot with our lack of passing.”
It put a disappointing end to a sensational season for St. John’s as Arkansas will travel to San Francisco to play No. 3 Texas Tech in the Sweet 16 on Thursday.