St. John’s Red Storm coach Rick Pitino was displeased with the handling of his team’s postgame situation after suffering a disappointing loss to the Duke Blue Devils in the Sweet 16.
The Blue Devils and Red Storm fought it out throughout the game, trading leads and taking things down to nearly the final shot. Guard Isaiah Evans scored 25 points to help Cameron Boozer lead the Blue Devils in their win with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
For the Red Storm, senior Zuby Ejiofor scored 17 points to go with eight rebounds and six assists, while Bryce Hopkins added 15 points to go with seven rebounds. Duke outrebounded the Red Storm 40-27 and shot 54 percent from the floor. They also drew more fouls and hit 15-of-25 from the line.
However, it wasn’t necessarily his team’s effort that had Pitino miffed when they arrived at the postgame press conference. Instead, it was the way the postgame interviews were set up for the winning and losing teams.
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“One suggestion for the NCAA is when you have interviews on the court for Duke, the winning team, they have time there. The game started before we even came in here. Is to have the losing team go first, because you left us disappointed in the locker room while the other team’s celebrating, rightfully so,” he said, seeming unhappy.
“You should let the losing team go first, and then let the winning team have as long as you want. Just a suggestion. You just left us hanging out there for over a half hour. Anyways,” Pitino said at the microphone as Ejoifor was arriving to join him.
Someone out of the video frame told Pitino they felt “it was a solid suggestion” from the coach at the press conference.
Pitino was likely referring to the game between the No. 2 seed UConn Huskies and No. 3 seed Michigan State Spartans, which was set to occur after the Red Storm vs. Blue Devils game ended. That game started a bit later due to the end of the first game.
He then shifted his attention to the game, speaking about how St. John’s was able to effectively hit three-pointers, but could not stop multiple Duke “bully drives” against them.
“Our guys played with great heart. They made some defensive mistakes down the stretch, but that’s a credit to them. We had our moments in the game. We fought hard. We fought hard the whole season,” Pitino said of his team’s effort.
“We’re all very disappointed that we didn’t have a chance to win a National Championship, but that’s a credit to Duke,” the Red Storm coach said.
St. John’s entered the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big East Conference and then winning the Big East Tournament with a 20-point victory in the final over the UConn Huskies.
They’ll move forward to next season, but it will be without some key players, including Ejiofor, as the senior will take his talents to the NBA. Other departures include Bryce Hopkins, Oziyah Sellers, Dillon Mitchell, and Sadiku Ibini Ayo.
With no key recruits coming in for the Red Storm, it leaves Pitino to work with the transfer portal to add several starters and reserves to the lineup.
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