At present, St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino is credited with 899 wins at the collegiate level. Who’s the person standing in the way of No. 900? That would be his son, Richard Pitino, the head coach of St. John’s next opponent, the Xavier Musketeers.
“I think he [Richard Pitino] will do every little thing humanely attainable to cease it,” Pitino joked after the Pink Storm received a 65-60 win over the Seton Hall Pirates on Tuesday night time in his postgame press convention. “The wonderful factor about it — I actually do not suppose an excessive amount of about variety of wins — however the wonderful factor to me when [special advisor] Kenny Klein advised me about 4 video games in the past, he mentioned ‘For those who saved successful, you can have your 900th win towards your son.’ I mentioned, ‘What is the probabilities of that taking place, that you simply coach 900 video games [over] 50 years and your 900th win is towards your son?’ So, I believe that is a giant deal with for me and the household.
“Both method, we all know we’ll have a tough sport towards them [Xavier] due to their fashion of play. He is a doing a superb job. That is going to be loads of enjoyable [and] an amazing sport. If we lose, I will depart my staff in Cincinnati.”
The daddy and son have confronted off towards one another as head coaches 4 instances, with the elder Pitino 3-1 within the all-time matchups. Rick’s Louisville Cardinals received the very best of Richard’s Florida International Panthers in 2012 and his Minnesota Golden Gophers in 2014. Then, Richard Pitino’s New Mexico Lobos defeated Rick Pitino’s Iona Gaels in 2022, with the elder Pitino’s Pink Storm beating the Lobos in 2024.
Xavier hosts St. John’s on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET.
After defeating Seton Corridor in Madison Sq. Backyard on Tuesday night time, St. John’s is 14-5 general and 7-1 in Big East play this season, good for second within the convention. The Pink Storm beforehand had three then-ranked out-of-conference losses to Alabama, Iowa State and Auburn; St. John’s additionally misplaced to Kentucky.
As for Xavier, the Musketeers are 11-7 general and 3-4 in Huge East play in what’s their first season beneath Pitino, good for sixth within the convention. Pitino was beforehand the pinnacle coach at New Mexico from the 2021-22 season to the 2024-25 season, highlighted by back-to-back appearances within the NCAA Match and successful 2024-25 Mountain West Coach of the Yr honors.
In the meantime, Minnesota made the NCAA Match twice over Pitino’s eight-season stint (2013-14 to 2020-21), with him incomes 2016-17 Big Ten Coach of the Yr honors.
As for St. John’s, it is the seventh head-coaching cease in Rick Pitino’s collegiate teaching profession (Hawai’i, Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville, Iona and St. John’s) and is in its third season beneath the Corridor of Fame coach. The Pink Storm, who have been a No. 2 seed in final season’s NCAA Match, are a mixed 65-23 beneath Pitino.
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