Rick Pitino bests son Richard Pitino as St. John’s passes first true test of season with win over New Mexico

NEW YORK — Rick Pitino hugged Richard Pitino and quickly exchanged pregame pleasantries on his way to the St. John’s bench.

From that point on, it all was business.

Rick Pitino emerged victorious in Sunday afternoon’s much-hyped coaching showdown between father and son, as No. 22 St. John’s used its size advantage and uptempo attack to top Richard Pitino and New Mexico, 85-71, at Madison Square Garden.

All five St. John’s starters scored in double figures, led by 6-7 forward RJ Luis Jr., whose 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists each served as game highs.

The balanced attack helped St. John’s pass its first true test of the season to improve to 4-0, while Rick Pitino, 72, improved to 3-1 all time against his 42-year-old son.

Chants of “Who’s Your Daddy?” filled the Garden late in the second half.

“As a New York Yankee fan, all I could think of was Pedro Martinez,” Richard Pitino said afterward. “Other than that, I laughed it off. I didn’t think much of it. This is what our obnoxious New York fans do, and I’m part of it.”

The convincing victory served as an early-season statement for St. John’s, which outrebounded New Mexico (3-1) by a 49-32 margin and turned 22 offensive rebounds into 25 second-chance points.

“Without question, we won the game on the backboard,” Rick Pitino said.

Zuby Ejiofor, a 6-9 forward, finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds for St. John’s, while 6-6 guard Kadary Richmond added 14 points and eight boards.

The Johnnies repeatedly attacked the basket, scoring 48 points in the paint to help win a track meet between two of college basketball’s fastest-paced teams.

“The concern that I had going into the game kind of came true,” Richard Pitino said. “I thought their size, their strength, their physicality certainly broke open the game at times.”

St. John’s jumped out to an early lead Sunday, using an 11-0 run to go up 25-13 before taking a 40-29 advantage into halftime.

At the forefront of that first-half attack…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/rick-pitino-bests-son-richard-013200847.html

Author : NY Daily News

Publish date : 2024-11-18 01:32:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.