No. 2 Sveti John kicked out of the NCAA tournament no. 10 Arkansas star-news.press/wp

John Calipari moves in sweets 16. The road, and this one could be the sweetest of all.

Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks won a long-term infestry Rick Pitino and no. 2 Seeds St. John 75-66 on Saturday, sending his ITinenter of the trainer on the second weekend NCAA tournament with his fourth school.

Billy Richmond III has achieved 16 points, and Karter Knox had 15 for 10-seed roles, which in the first round sent Kansas and their Fame Coursel Bill’s Hall from the “Trainer Region” in the first round.

But the victory over his long-term rival was especially sweet for Calipari, who had brought into his season in his first season in Fayetteville, despite early seasonal injuries that left them for the beginning of the schedule of the Southeast Conference. Arkansas will face third seeds Texas Tech in the semifinals for the Western region in San Francisco.

“I told them,” This is like rewarding as the year I had, based on how far we came, “he said.

The zuby ejiofor had 23 points and 12 rebounds for Big East Champion St. John’s (31-5). Conference player of the year RJ Luis Jr. He had nine points, half of his seasonal average, on the shooting of 3 out of 17.

“They overcame us. They deserve to move on and we don’t know we,” Pitino said. “That’s the fact that the march is mad. No matter how good the regular season you have, you play like this, you’ll win.”

Pitino history in Providence – He took Frahua at the 1987 finals. Years – he gave him the benefit of the domestic court as he arrived in Marth’s madness with an unprecedented sixth school.

So many of these teams are built with full court defense and shooting at 3 points.

Saint John, who beat Omaha in the first roundHe had defense no. 1 in the country this season To win the big Eastreturning to the tournament for the first time since 2019. years with seed seed no. 2 What was the best in 25 years.

But the shooting of a red storm has left them on Saturday and became the first team that sown fourth or better to go out from which the chalk tournament has been.

“Rick did a good job with his team all year round,” Calipari said. “If they made a few shots, they probably beat us up. We were lucky to go out.”

The teams combined that four three-pointers at 41 attempts, with St. By John’s recording 28% of the floor as a whole.

“I hate to see them go out here,” Pitino said. “We thought we were driven by championship in our minds, but I was disappointed before this. You hate you to see us.

“I don’t mind I go out with a loss, I just don’t like to see how we play so offensive,” he said. “It’s just a bitter pill to swallow with that kind of performance.”

End Game

Arkansas stated by 13 in the first half and had eight-minute leadership leaders before Johnnies cut it up to 62-60 from 6:11. But St. John missed his next six attempts from the range in 3 points and only done one of the last nine shots – Ejiofor’s dunk with 20 seconds.

Knox made a pair of free throws, and then Deivon Smith dropped the ball from his knees and out of bounds. When Richmond broke for 5 seconds, they were relieved of the Court in the Court in celebration, wandering weapons for counted fans in Arkansas in the crowd.