Why St. John’s Rick Pitino wants to avoid his son’s Xavier team in Big East Tournament

stSt. John’s made a come-from-behind victory over Xavier on Monday night. In the process, St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino moved into third in all-time wins, passing the legendary coach Roy Williams. The win came at the expense of his son, Richard Pitino, the head coach of Xavier.

After the game, the elder Pitino spoke to the media about his son’s team and his desire not to face them in the Big East Tournament.

“I hope we don’t play them in the Big East tournament. I think my son’s brilliant. I’m proud of him. I hate getting any milestone against him — but I go away tonight saying my son’s a hell of a coach. … To say my son’s a great coach is much more pleasing to me than any number of victories,” the St. John’s coach said after the contest per ESPN.

This is the second time this year that the father’s team beat the sons, and needed a comeback to do so. In the first contest, St. John’s won the game 88-83, but Xavier led in the game by as much as 16 points. The second contest saw Xavier’s biggest lead being just five points, but the Red Storm needed overtime to take the victory.

“In two games against them, he’s totally outcoached me, and their staff outcoached us. We could not guard them. We could not stop them in their offense. They got us in bad switches. They executed,” the 73-year old coach said. “All the credit goes to Richard, his staff, his players. They’ve outplayed us twice, but we just gutted it out in the final minutes to come away with a victory.”

This was the sixth meeting between the father and son, as Rick Pitino moved to 5-1 against Richard. The lone win for the younger Pitino came in the 2022-23 campaign when his New Mexico squad defeated an Iona team coached by his dad. Meanwhile, Richard Pitino is trying get Xavier back to the NCAA tournament for a third time in four years while in his first year on the job.

“We had a chance to win it. Proud of the effort. They’re great kids. Really believe in what we’re building,” Richard Pitino said. “We’re obviously trying to get to the level of UConn, trying to get to the level of St. John’s. But you can’t have 28 free throws to nine and think you’re going to win the game.”

St. John’s is now 19-5 on the season, and 12-1 in conference play. That ties them for first with UConn, but they have the tiebreaker currently with a win over the Huskies, and will face them again at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, Xavier is just 12-12 on the year, and 4-9 in conference play. They look to break a two-game losing skid on Saturday against Marquette.

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