PROVIDENCE, R.I. (news agencies) — John Calipari is heading to the Sweet 16 for the 16th time, and this one could 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 Tournament with his fourth school.
Billy Richmond III scored 16 points and Karter Knox had 15 for the 10th-seeded Razorbacks, who sent Kansas and their Hall of Fame coach Bill Self home from the “Region of Coaches” in the first round.
But the victory over his longtime rival was especially sweet for Calipari, who brought the Razorbacks (22-13) back to the tournament in his first season in Fayetteville despite early-season injuries that left them 0-5 to start the Southeastern Conference schedule.
“I told them, ‘This is as rewarding as a year I’ve had, based on how far we’ve come,’” he said.
Zuby Ejiofor had 23 points and 12 rebounds for Big East champion St. John’s (31-5).
Pitino’s history in Providence — he took the Friars to the 1987 Final Four — gave him a home-court advantage as he arrived in March Madness with an unprecedented sixth school.
So many of those teams were built with a full-court defense and 3-point shooting.
St. John’s had the No. 1 defense in the country this season. But their shooting deserted them on Saturday and they became the first team seeded fourth or better to exit what’s been a chalky tournament so far.
“Rick did a good job with his team all year,” Calipari said. “If they made a few shots, they probably beat us.”
The teams combined to make four 3-pointers on 41 attempts, with St. John’s shooting 28% from the floor overall.
Arkansas led by as many as 13 in the first half, and had an eight-point lead with eight minutes to play before the Johnnies cut it to two, 62-60, with 6:11 left. But St. John’s missed its next six attempts from 3-point range, and made just one of its last nine shots — Ejiofor’s dunk with 20 seconds left.
Knox made a pair of free throws, and then 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 in celebration, waving their arms for the outnumbered Arkansas fans in the crowd.
Arkansas heads to San Francisco to play the winner of Saturday night’s matchup in Wichita, Kansas, between third-seeded Texas Tech and No. 11 seed Drake.
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