March Madness: No. 2 St. John's falls to No. 10 Arkansas in second-round upset
Deivon Smith and Simeon Wilcher of the St. John's Red Storm react against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the second half in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Amica Mutual Pavillion on Saturday in Providence, R.I. Credit: Getty Images/Emilee Chinn
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — It had been a season of history-making for Rick Pitino’s St. John’s team.
The Red Storm’s first March Madness appearance since 2019, their first NCAA Tournament win and Big East Tournament title since 2000 and their first outright conference regular-season title since 1985 among them.
One more feat will have to be put on ice: a first Sweet 16 appearance since 1999.
Second-seeded St. John’s saw its historic season end Saturday afternoon in a 75-66 loss to No. 10 Arkansas in a West Region second-round game at Amica Mutual Pavilion.
“They outplayed us, and they deserve to move on and we don’t,” Pitino said.
“That’s what March Madness is all about. Sometimes no matter how great a regular season you have, you play this way and you’re going to get beat. I’m very thankful that I had these two guys [Kadary Richmond and Zuby Ejiofor] on my team, and Arkansas moves on and we don’t.”
St. John’s (31-5) led for only 3:57 and trailed for the entire second half. St. John’s shot only 2-for-22 on three-pointers and shot a season-low 28% from the field. Arkansas (22-13) went 2-for-19 from outside the arc.
“Rick did a great job with his team all year,” Arkansas coach John Calipari said. “If they made a few shots, they’d probably beat us.”
Ejiofor led the Red Storm with 23 points and 12 rebounds and Deivon Smith scored 13 points off the bench. Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. scored nine points, shot 3-for-17 and sat out the last 4:56.
“He played 30 minutes,” Pitino said. “That’s a long time.”
Aaron Scott (seven points) shot 1-for-10. Simeon Wilcher (two points) was 1-for-5.
Billy Richmond III led the Razorbacks with 16 points and Karter Knox added 15.
Arkansas took its largest lead at 55-42 with 11:32 left. The Red Storm cut their deficit to two three times in the final 6:11, including 64-62 with 4:56 left and 66-64 with 4:11 remaining, but could never tie it.
“I felt like we could have been better in a lot of areas,” Ejiofor said.
Richmond’s midrange jumper made it 68-64 and D.J. Wagner’s layup with 2:14 left gave Arkansas a 70-64 lead.
Scott missed two free throws that would have cut it to four with 1:04 left. Ejiofor’s second-chance dunk cut St. John’s deficit to 70-66 with 20.9 seconds left.
Knox hit two free throws with 19.2 seconds left to extend Arkansas’ lead to 72-66, and Smith lost his dribble on the other end. Johnell Davis made two foul shots with 12.3 seconds left and Richmond made one with 4.6 seconds left.
St. John’s previous four defeats came by a total of seven points. The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak.
The Red Storm had a season-high 28 offensive rebounds and 25 second-chance points. They tied a season low with five assists.
“We shot ourselves in the foot with a lack of passing,” Pitino said.
Saturday marked the 24th college game and fifth NCAA Tournament game in the lengthy and heated Pitino vs. Calipari rivalry. Calipari has a 14-10 record against Pitino at the college level.
Pitino leads all active coaches with 885 wins and Calipari is second at 877.
Arkansas will meet No. 3 Texas Tech in the Sweet 16 on Thursday at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
Foul trouble lingered for both sides. Kadary Richmond and Wilcher respectively played only 6:47 and 4:21 in the first half — which ended with Arkansas owning a 35-32 lead — after committing two fouls. Richmond ultimately fouled out with 6:28 left.
“It’s a tough one,” Richmond said. “It’s a tough way to go out. Some tough calls. They played better than us. Just some tough calls.”
Arkansas starting forward Jonas Aidoo was limited to 21:26 with consistent foul trouble. Reserve center Zvonimir Ivisic, who is 7-2, fouled out with 11:58 left. Aidoo and guards Boogie Fland and Davis each finished with four fouls.
Pitino noted Friday that Arkansas is “as athletic as I have seen.” He reiterated that sentiment after the loss.
“We haven’t faced that type of length and athleticism this year,” Pitino said. “That’s what the SEC is all about, but that’s not the reason we lost the game.
“We lost the game because we did not move the basketball enough, and that led to us shooting a very low percentage. We’re a team that we have to get a high number of assists to win, and we didn’t tonight.”
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
