John Calipari is heading to the Candy 16 for the sixteenth time, and this one could possibly be the sweetest of all.
Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks beat longtime nemesis Rick Pitino and No. 2 seed St. John’s 75-66 on Saturday, sending their itinerant coach to the second weekend of the NCAA Event along with his fourth college.
Billy Richmond III scored 16 factors and Karter Knox had 15 for the Tenth-seeded Razorbacks, who despatched Kansas and their Corridor of Fame coach Invoice Self dwelling from the “Region of Coaches” within the first spherical.
However the victory over his longtime rival was particularly candy for Calipari, who introduced the Razorbacks (22-13) again to the match in his first season in Fayetteville regardless of early-season accidents that left them 0-5 to start out the Southeastern Convention schedule.
“I told them, ‘This is as rewarding as a year I’ve had, based on how far we’ve come,’” he mentioned.
Zuby Ejiofor had 23 factors and 12 rebounds for Huge East champion St. John’s (31-5).
Pitino’s historical past in Windfall — he took the Friars to the 1987 Closing 4 — gave him a home-court benefit as he arrived in March Insanity with an unprecedented sixth college.
So lots of these groups had been constructed with a full-court protection and 3-point capturing.
St. John’s had the No. 1 protection within the nation this season. However their capturing abandoned them on Saturday and so they turned the primary crew seeded fourth or higher to exit what’s been a chalky match to date.
“Rick did a good job with his team all year,” Calipari mentioned. “If they made a few shots, they probably beat us.”
The groups mixed to make 4 3-pointers on 41 makes an attempt, with St. John’s capturing 28% from the ground general.
Finish recreation
Arkansas led by as many as 13 within the first half, and had an eight-point lead with eight minutes to play earlier than the Johnnies lower it to 2, 62-60, with 6:11 left. However St. John’s missed its subsequent six makes an attempt from 3-point vary, and made simply considered one of its final 9 pictures — Ejiofor’s dunk with 20 seconds left.
Knox made a pair of free throws, after which Deivon Smith dribbled the ball off his knee and out of bounds. When Richmond was fouled with 5 seconds left, the Razorbacks ran down the court docket in celebration, waving their arms for the outnumbered Arkansas followers within the crowd.
Up subsequent
Arkansas heads to San Francisco to play the winner of Saturday evening’s matchup in Wichita, Kansas, between third-seeded Texas Tech and No. 11 seed Drake.
