A lot was revealed during the season finale episode of Pitino: Red Storm Rising Thursday night on VICE TV as Rick Pitino got very candid about what went wrong for the St. John’s basketball team in its season ending loss against Arkansas, including the disqualification of Kadary Richmond.
Pitino documented his decision to bench RJ Luis, the Big East Player of the Year, in the final minutes of the game but felt more disturbed with how Richmond, his superstar point guard, was removed from the game by the officials.
The Seton Hall transfer picked up two fouls within the first seven minutes of the game and sat until the start of the second half. His foul trouble carried over to the second half and he was called for his fifth foul on a controversial play with 6:28 remaining and the Johnnies down by three.
“We had a bad whistle. That happens,” Pitino said in the episode.
“Every referee must know when a player has four fouls if there’s a call that’s very close, and that wasn’t close, by the way. That was perfect verticality.”
Pitino looks back on Kadary’s foul-out in the finale of Pitino: Red Storm Rising. Tune in tonight at 10P ET on the VICE TV channel. pic.twitter.com/Iz53p7ndmr
— VICE TV (@VICETV) April 3, 2025
Richmond played just 16 minutes and finished with five points, four rebounds, and two assists as St. John’s fell 75-66. His presence was sorely missed down the stretch with Luis on the bench and the team searching for a playmaker outside of Zuby Ejiofor.
“It was tough seeing that,” Ejiofor said of Richmond fouling out. “Especially my guy ‘Kooks’ potentially his last collegiate game being fouled out. It was tough.”
Arkansas battled foul trouble, too, with its centers Jonas Aidoo and Zvonimir Ivisic. Ivisic fouled out after just ten minutes while Aidoo was limited to 22 minutes.
“We’re not making any excuses. It was an awful call; you have to live with awful calls. It’s a tough game to officiate,” Pitino added.
The call resulted in St. John’s getting bounced from the NCAA Tournament early while Arkansas would be knocked out in overtime of the Sweet 16 against Texas Tech after blowing a double digit lead with less than five minutes remaining.