John Calipari is moving towards Sweet 16 for the 16th time, and it can be the most cute among all.
Calipari’s Arkansas Rejorback defeated Nemesis Rick Pitino and No. 2 Seed St. John’s 75-66 on Saturday, sent his repetition coach in the second weekend. NCAA Tournament With your fourth school.
Billy Richmond III scored 16 points and Carter Knox had 15 for 10th seed reserbacks, who sent the Cannes and his hall of fame coach Bill Self Home from the “area of coaches” in the first round.
But his long-term rival victory was especially sweet for Calipari, who brought the Razorback (22–13) back to the tournament in his first season in Fayetville, despite the initial season injuries that left him 0-5 to start the South-Eastern Conference program despite the initial season injuries. Arkansas will face the third seed Texas Tech in the semi -finals of the western region in San Francisco.
“I told him,” it is rewarded as a year, which is with me, on the basis of how far we have come, “he said.
The Zubi Egiofore’s Big East Champion St. John (31-5) had 23 points and 12 rebounds. The conference player of the year RJ Louis Junior. There were 3 points, on 3 -17 shooting, half a season of its season.
Steven Sen / AP
“They beat us up. They deserve to move forward and we don’t,” Pitino said. “That’s everything about march madness. No matter how good you have a regular season, you play this way, you are going to beat.”
History of Pitino in Providence-He took Fire in the final four of 1987-as soon as he reached the march insanity with an unprecedented sixth school, he gave him the benefit of the house.
Many of those teams were built with a full-fledged protection and 3-point shooting.
St John, Who defeated Omaha in the first roundThis season was the number 1 protection in the country To win Big EastReturn to tournament for the first time since 2019 Number 2 with seeds which were best in 25 years,
But the shooting of the Red Storm left him on Saturday and became the first team, which became the fourth or better preference, which has been a chalk tournament so far.
“Rick did a good job with his team throughout the year,” Calipari said. “If they make some shots, they probably beat us. We were lucky to get out.”
Teams jointly shot 28% from the floor with a holistic shooting of St. John to create four 3-pointers on 41 attempts.
“I hate them from going out like this,” Pitino said. “We felt that we were championship-powered in our mind, but I was disappointed before. You hate us playing like this.
He said, “I don’t feel bad that I am going out with a loss, I hate playing aggressively in this way.” “This is just a bitter pill to swallow with that type of performance.”
End game
Arkansas led 13 in the first half and took an eight-minute lead with an eight-minute lead before Johnies cut it 62–60, with 6:11 left. But St. John recalled his next six attempts from the 3-point range, and made one of its final nine shots-sting Ezofore with -20 seconds.
KNOX formed a pair of free throw, and then Devon Smith drove the ball out of his knee and from the boundary. When Richmond had 5 seconds left, Razorback attended court, waving his arms for Arkansas fans in the crowd.
