Father Schools Son in Epic Matchup Between St. John’s And New Mexico
NEW YORK CITY – St. John’s men’s basketball head coach Rick Pitino has learned a few things in his hall of fame coaching career. New Mexico men’s basketball head coach Richard Pitino learned he still has some lessons to master in his pursuit to achieve the level of success as his father.
The elder Pitino saw all five of his starters score in double figures as No. 22 St. John’s defeated the younger Pitino’s New Mexico team 85-71 on Nov. 17 in front of 12,310 fans inside Madison Square Garden.
The win improved the Red Storm to 4-0 on the young season, while the Lobos lost for the first time after opening the season with three straight wins, including a 72-64 win over then-No. 22 UCLA Nov. 8 in the Las Vegas Hoopfest.
The win also gave Rick Pitino a 3-1 record in their previous four meetings as head coaches. New Mexico defeated Iona 82-74 on Dec. 18, 2022 in Albuquerque.
Richard Pitino, in his fourth season at New Mexico, previously coached at Florida Atlantic (2012-13) and Minnesota (2013-2021) before taking over the Lobo program in 2021.
But, like any father, whose son is trying to follow in his footstep, the legendary coach heaped praise on New Mexico.
“It was great for New Mexico to come into The Garden,” he said. “They just came off beating UCLA. Now they play a St. John’s team in The Garden. Their resume only gets enhanced by that.
“He is a great young coach,” he added about his son. “His offensive mind is brilliant. He puts you in situations that hurt you defensively. He’s one of the bright offensive minds in the game today.”
The elder Pitino, who previously coached at Hawai’i (1975-76), Boston University (1978-83), Providence (1985-87) and Kentucky (1989-97), along with stops at Louisville (2001-17) and Iona (2020-23) before taking over at St. John’s is in his second season as coach at the school.
He saw some flashes of brilliance from his team against New Mexico that he hopes will translate into success as the season continues to progress.
“No team is great in November,” the St. John’s coach said. “We have a very good team … but greatness is not seen until February and March.
“Certain guys are not even close to their potential,” Pitino said. “It’s interesting because it’s the older guys that are not close to their potential.”
“It’s interesting,” Pitino added.
Despite trailing 40-29 at the break, New Mexico believed it still had a chance to pull off the improbable upset in the unlikeliest of places.
The Lobos cut the St. John’s advantage to 54-48 on a 3-pointer from CJ Noland with 13:30 left in the game.
A Richmond dunk a short time later increased the St. John lead to 60-48.
Still undaunted, New Mexico used an 11-3 spurt to pull to within 63-59 with plenty of time remaining.
Whatever momentum the Lobos had evaporated when the Red Storm went on a 9-2 scoring spree sparked by a 3-pointer from Scott before ending the spurt with a easy layup for a 72-61 lead with just over five minutes left in the contest.
New Mexico tuned out the partisan St. John’s crowd and jumped out to an early 8-6 advantage with just over five minutes gone in the contest when Mustapha Amzil scored on an easy layup.
Back-to-back jumpers from Simeon Wilcher and Kadary Richmond while Ruben Prey added a layup that gave the Red Storm a 12-8 lead with 13:22 remaining in the first half.
It was a lead St. John’s would not squander.
The visiting Lobos managed to get to within 12-11 on a 3-pointer from Mustapha Amzil with 12:54 remaining in the first half.
But the St. John’s defense clamped down and held New Mexico without a field goal over the next 5:30 and used an 11-0 run to build a 25-13 advantage won a three-pointer from RJ Luis.
St. John’s managed to extend its cushion to 16 before halftime with Deivon Smith scoring eight of his team’s final 10 points of the half. He scored on back-to-back fast break and Zuby Ejiofor slammed home a basket of his own.
Consecutive layups from Smith allowed St. John’s to go into the intermission with a 40-29 advantage.
“I thought we played awesome defense in the first half … really great defense,” the St. John’s coach said. “Without question, we won the game on the backboard. There’s no doubt about it, the backboard was the key to the game.
St. John’s held a 49-32 edge in rebounding in the game, including a 22-16 advantage on the offensive end that allowed the Red Storm to outscore the Lobos 25-17 in second-chance scoring.
The 22 offensive rebounds were the most in a single game for St. John’s grabbed 27 in a game against against Seton Hall on Feb. 22, 2009.
“The concern that I had going into the game kind of came true,” the younger Pitino said. “I thought (St. John’s) size, their strength, their physicality certainly broke open the game at times.
“We were able to get some stop, we just could not get rebounds,” he added.
RJ Luis had a team-high 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Red Storm. He also added a team-best seven assists, the most in his career, in the win.
He was joined in double figures by Smith, who added 15 points, 12 of those coming in the first half, and Aaron Scott, along with Richmond, who both pumped in 14 points in the winning effort. Ejiofor, who also finished with a double-double, pitched in with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the winning effort. He also added three assists and a pair of assists for the Red Storm.
New Mexico placed four players in double figures in scoring with Amzil and Nelly Joseph leading the way with 16 points each. CJ Noland added 15 and Donovan Dent chipped in with 12 points.
“It was a great win with a great crowd … great day,” the St. John’s coach said. “Really proud of the guys, and this was our first big test, and now we really go into the gauntlet with Baylor, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia.”
St. John’s makes it first road trip of the season when the Red Storm travels to face Baylor on Thursday in the Baha Mar Hoops Championship in the Bahamas.
New Mexico returns home to face Grambling (Nov. 21) and Texas Southern (Nov. 24) before taking part in the Acrisure Classic in Palm Springs, Calif., where the Lobos will play Arizona State and either Southern California or Saint Mary’s (Calif.).
 New Mexico | 29 | 42 | 71 |
 St. John’s (NY) | 40 | 45 | 85 |
Attendance: 12310
A native of Bismarck, N.D., Ray is a graduate of North Dakota State University where he began studying athletic training and served as a student trainer for several Bison teams including swimming, wrestling and baseball and was a trainer at the 1979 NCAA national track and field championship meet at the University of Illinois. Ray later worked in the sports information office at NDSU. Following his graduation from NDSU he spent five years in the sports information office at Missouri Western State University and one year in the sports information at Georgia Tech. He has nearly 40 years of writing experience as a sports editor at several newspapers and has received numerous awards for his writing over the years. A noted sports historian, Ray is currently an assistant editor at Amateur Wrestling News.
