Rick Pitino celebrates St. John’s for ‘playing hard’ despite ejections

The No. 17 St. John’s Red Storm and Providence Friars got into a brawl early in the second half of Saturday’s contest. Five players in total were ejected, with three of them being on the Red Storm. Despite the chaos, Rick Pitino is seemingly happy with his team pulling out with a 79-69 win over the Friars.

During the postgame interview with Andy Katz, the 73-year-old head coach claimed he was ultimately proud of his team being able to play after the wild brawl. Although St. John’s essentially lost its entire front court, the Red Storm still managed to play well enough for the victory. Pitino did not have a comment about the fight.

“We play hard, obviously,” said Pitino… “[The officials] took away my whole front court, but on the other hand, they gotta protect guys from being punched too. Hard fought game. Proud of our guys. To come back with four guards, really special.”

Rick Pitino reacted to @StJohnsBBall's valiant effort after multiple ejections in the win against Providence

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Everything took a wild turn after Providence forward Duncan Powell fouled St. John’s guard Bryce Hopkins. It was a hard hit to Hopkins’ head while he was attempting a layup. The brawl ensued almost immediately after the foul, which ultimately led to the five ejections.

Regardless of the adversity, St. John’s managed to earn its 20th win of the regular season. The Red Storm has just six games remaining on the schedule and is in a prime position in the Big East Conference standings. Rick Pitino’s group is in second place in the conference, with only the UConn Huskies ahead of them.

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