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 was senior point guard Deivon Smith, who made five lay-ups before halftime and scored 12 of his season-high 15 points before the break.
Smith, a prized transfer from Utah, had not scored more than 13 points or attempted more than nine shots in any of the Red Storm’s first three games, instead largely functioning as a facilitator.
He took nine shots — and made six — in the first half alone Sunday.
St. John’s led by as many as 15 points in the first half, then held on as New Mexico made multiple runs.
The Lobos cut the deficit to four points when center Nelly Junior Joseph — who played under the elder Pitino at Iona — finished a lay-up with 8:01 left in the game.
But Aaron Scott responded with a 3-pointer on the next possession, and less than two minutes later, the right-handed Richmond finished a contested left-handed floater to put the Johnnies back up by nine.
Smith added a dagger 3-pointer with 4:28 remaining, increasing the St. John’s lead to 75-63.
Luis, a junior in his second season at St. John’s, scored 16 points in the second half.
He also served as the primary defender against New Mexico’s star point guard, Donovan Dent, who was averaging 19.0 points and 9.7 assists per game but managed only 12 points and six assists Sunday.
Luis is now averaging 17.5 points per game in what’s been a breakout season so far. He averaged 10.9 points per game last season while playing through nagging shin injuries.
“I think it’s mostly me being healthy,” Luis said. “Just the person that I am, I put a lot of work into my craft. Now I’m stepping up as one of the best defenders. … I’m gonna play-make. I’m gonna score. I’m really just playing both sides of the ball.”
Sunday marked the first head-to-head meeting between the Pitinos since 2022, when New Mexico beat Rick Pitno’s Iona team. Rick Pitino won the first two meetings when he was the head coach of Louisville, beating his son at FIU in 2012 and at Minnesota in 2014.
“The reason we booked [Sunday’s game was that] I thought it was great for New Mexico to come into the Garden,” Rick Pitino said.
“He’s my son, so I’m gonna brag on him. He is a great young coach,” he said. “His offensive mind is brilliant. He puts you in situations that really hurt you defensively. … He’s one of the bright, young offensive minds in the game today. He’s a lot different than me. He handles losing much better than me. I’ve learned to accept it by coming to Queens.”
Ranked for the first time since 2019, St. John’s steamrolled Fordham, Quinnipiac and Wagner before Sunday’s litmus test against New Mexico.
An even bigger test awaits, as St. John’s is set to face No. 12 Baylor in the Baha Mar Hoops tournament in the Bahamas on Thursday night.
“I think we have greatness potential,” Rick Pitino said. “But we’re just solid now. We’re a good, solid team. You have all new players. You’re not supposed to be great in November.”
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