St. John’s is the sixth different program Rick Pitino has guided to an NCAA Tournament — so the Basketball Hall of Famer knows better than to get caught looking ahead.
“I’m just gonna focus on Omaha,” Pitino said Sunday. “I’ve lost in the first round before, so I’m gonna just focus on that.”
With a matchup against either Kansas or Arkansas on the horizon, No. 2 seed St. John’s first prioritizes business in its West Region opener against No. 15 Omaha on Thursday night in Providence, R.I.
The Red Storm (30-4) reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 and blew past every expectation along the way. In Pitino’s second year on the job in New York, he guided the program to the Big East regular-season and tournament titles.
Many of his players are experiencing their first NCAA Tournament, but they know to follow the example set by the man who has gone to seven Final Fours and won two national championships.
“He’s like a different monster (in March), just his level of intensity. It’s like it heightens,” Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. said, per Newsday. “Coach P was already looking over the statistics to see what he could come up with. He’s really just a master at his craft and he’s going to do the best he can with his abilities to put us in a position to be successful.”
St. John’s is riding a nine-game winning streak thanks to its dominant run through the Big East tournament, where it beat Butler, Marquette and Creighton (the latter two NCAA Tournament participants) by an average of 17.7 points.
Luis leads the team with 18.4 points per game and forward Zuby Ejiofor puts up 14.6 points and a team-leading 8.0 rebounds per contest. Ejiofor exploded for a career-high 33 points against Marquette in the semis.
While the team’s 3-point shooting is a weakness (30.4 percent), it bottles teams up to 65.9 points per game and ranks first in Division I in adjusted defensive efficiency by KenPom.com.
Omaha (22-12) went on a six-game run to conclude the season and beat St. Thomas 85-75 in the Summit League championship game. It’s the Mavericks’ first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.
Coach Chris Crutchfield, an Omaha grad, relishes the opportunity for his team to face Pitino’s squad.
“It’s a little bit intimidating, to be honest with you, but our guys will be up for the challenge,” Crutchfield told CBS Sports.
Summit Player of the Year Marquel Sutton asserted himself with 19.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per game this season. The forward isn’t far removed from racking up a career-high 36 points and 12 rebounds against South Dakota on Feb. 22. Facing Ejiofor in St. John’s frontcourt will be a different challenge.
JJ White (13.7 ppg, 43.9 percent 3-point shooting) and Tony Osburn (12.2 ppg, 40.4 percent) will present a test for Luis and Kadary Richmond, a great defensive guard who leads the Red Storm with 2.1 steals and 5.4 assists per game to go with 12.7 ppg.
“The league knows (Omaha) the best,” Pitino said, “so we’ll look at how the league defended them because they know them so well. We’ll see what they do.”
Pitino coached Providence from 1985-87 and led the Friars to a Final Four. It could be a fine setting for a second-round matchup with Arkansas and Pitino’s longtime rival, fellow Hall of Famer John Calipari.
–Field Level Media
