PROVIDENCE, R.I. — No. 10 Arkansas took advantage of a poor shooting performance by No. 2 St. John’s and upset the Red Storm 75-66 in the extremely physical second-round matchup in the NCAA men’s tournament’s West region.
The marquee coaching contest pitting longtime rivals John Calipari and Rick Pitino was an grind-it-out, heavily officiated affair decided by the Razorbacks’ ability to handle the Red Storm’s intense style of play. The two teams combined for 44 personal fouls and 58 free-throw attempts.
Unable to combat Arkansas’ length and athleticism, St. John’s shot just 28% from the field and made only 2 of 22 attempts from 3-point range.
The win sends the Razorbacks to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five seasons. Arkansas will next meet the winner of No. 3 Texas against No. 11 Drake.
Playing roughly three hours from campus in front of a decidedly pro-St. John’s crowd, the Red Storm missed their first eight 3-point attempts and trailed 22-14 with 8:40 to play in the first half. They quickly rallied to take a 28-27 lead four minutes later but trailed 35-32 at halftime after Arkansas closed on a 7-0 run.
Overall, St. John’s shot 10 of 42 from the field in the first half and made just one of 13 attempts from deep as the size and length of Arkansas around the basket caused problems. The Red Storm were able to hang around thanks to 14 offensive rebounds, resulting in 11 second-chance points. Arkansas was only slightly better at 12 of 32 shooting, including 2 of 12 from 3-point range.
The lead grew to 42-33 three minutes into the second half after Arkansas converted layups on four straight possessions. An and-one from forward Jonas Aidoo gave the Razorbacks their first double-digit lead at 49-38 with 14:38 to play. That edge ballooned to 55-42 with 11:32 remaining before another quick St. John’s run trimmed the score to 55-49 a minute later.
But Arkansas had answers. It withstood that surge to lead 61-53 with eight minutes left. After the Red Storm made it 62-60 after a pair of free throws with 6:11 to go, the Razorbacks traded buckets until pushing the score to 70-64 on a D.J. Wagner layup with just two minutes to play.
Arkansas made five of six free throws in the final 19 seconds to seal the win.
While both teams dealt with foul trouble, St. John’s played much of the second half with key guards Kadary Richmond and Simeon Wilcher sidelined with four fouls apiece. The two scored a combined 7 points on 3 of 12 shooting. Richmond fouled out with 6:28 to go.
Billy Richmond III scored a team-high 16 points for Arkansas, while Karter Knox added 15. Freshman guard Boogie Fland had six points, four rebounds and two assists in his second game back from a hand injury suffered in January.
St. John’s was led by forward Zuby Ejiofor’s 23 points and 11 rebounds.
This was the 30th meeting between Pitino and Calipari, with Calipari now owning a 17-13 edge in the series. Five of these pairings have come in tournament, including matchups in the 1996 and 2012 national semifinals.
The two Hall of Fame coaches have competed for regional and national supremacy across multiple stops, including a high-stakes rivalry when Pitino was at Louisville and Calipari at Kentucky, where Pitino had earlier won a national championship. Combined, they have coached teams to 13 Final Four appearances and three titles.
Just the second Arkansas coach to lead the team into the tournament in his first season, Calipari is the first to reach the Sweet 16 in his debut. This is his 16th trip to the Sweet 16 and his first since 2019 and after winning just one tournament game in his final five seasons at Kentucky.
For St. John’s, the loss ends what had been a dream turnaround in Pitino’s second season. After an uneven 2023-24 season that Pitino called “the most unenjoyable experience” of his career, St. John’s took home an outright Big Ten championship for the first time since 1985 and won 30 games for the first time since 1986.
The Red Storm struggled in the first half against No. 15 Nebraska-Omaha in the opening round before pulling away after the break for an 83-53 win. They did the same against the Razorbacks but were unable to find that higher gear coming out of halftime.