{"id":107549,"date":"2024-11-18T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=107549"},"modified":"2024-11-18T06:37:55","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T11:37:55","slug":"pitino-reunion-has-hall-of-famer-beaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/11\/18\/pitino-reunion-has-hall-of-famer-beaming\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitino Reunion Has Hall of Famer Beaming"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was not just another day at the office for legendary coach <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/coaches\/rick-pitino-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rick Pitino<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The Pitino reunion saw the Hall of Fame St. John&#8217;s coach improve to 3-1 when going up against his son <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/coaches\/richard-pitino-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Richard Pitino<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">St. John&#8217;s led by 11 points at halftime in the 85-71 win at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. All five starters scored in double figures as the Red Storm improved to 4-0. <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/rj-luis-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RJ Luis Jr.<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> had 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in the win.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As expected, much of the chatter after the game was about Pitino coaching against his son. It made for a memorable Pitino reunion.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Pitino Reunion Has Hall of Famer Beaming<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it comes to the Pitino vs. Pitino matchup, it didn&#8217;t take much prodding for the elder Pitino to speak highly of his son even if New Mexico suffered its first loss of the season. <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/mustapha-amzil-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mustapha Amzil<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/nellyjunior-joseph-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nelly Junior Joseph<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> each had 16 points for the Lobos in the 14-point loss.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The reason I booked the game is I thought it was great for New Mexico to come into the Garden,&#8221; Rick Pitino <a  href=\"https:\/\/redstormsports.com\/watch\/on-demand\/press-conferences\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told the media<\/a> after the win. &#8220;They just came off beating UCLA, now they play a St. John&#8217;s team in the Garden. Their resume only gets enhanced.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The St. John\u2019s crowd is chanting \u201cWHO\u2019S YOUR DADDY\u201d at Richard Pitino and Rick is imploring them to stop <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CG9RZ7D7IJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/CG9RZ7D7IJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheFieldOf68\/status\/1858225400176095538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 17, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;He is my son so I am going to brag but he is a great young coach. His offensive mind is brilliant. He puts you in situations that really hurt you defensively. I think he won 27 games last year, I think he has a great team this year. He does it with all new players, with different players. He is one of the bright young offensive minds in the game today.&#8221;<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps the only difficult time for Pitino was when the fans began to <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/nypostsports\/status\/1858232467733287312\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">chant, &#8220;Who&#8217;s your daddy?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> late in the game.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>A One-Way Trip<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it comes to another Pitino reunion, Richard Pitino told the media that he doesn&#8217;t expect St. John&#8217;s to make a return trip and play at New Mexico. Naturally, Rick Pitino was asked about that and he displayed his quick wit.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;We agreed on bringing his team to the Garden,&#8221; <a  href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/pitino-st-johns-new-mexico-73e7dfcf5f4284119142445b3ed7ff83\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pitino said.<\/a> &#8220;We went to New Mexico when I was at Iona. If I go back to Iona in a few years, I will go back to The Pit.&#8221;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3><b>A Nice MSG Debut<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sunday&#8217;s win was the first of eight scheduled games that St. John&#8217;s will play at Madison Square Garden. Of course, the Red Storm will also be at the Garden for the Big East Tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Players on both sides got to experience a great crowd at the World&#8217;s Most Famous Arena. St. John&#8217;s has nine regular-season home games in Big East play, and seven of them will be played at the Garden.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The atmosphere was crazy,&#8221; <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/aaron-scott-5.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aaron Scott<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> told the media after scoring 14 points in the victory. &#8220;The fans were crazy. It was really loud, I couldn&#8217;t hear my own teammates at times. I love the crowd and I love the atmosphere.&#8221;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scott is one of the high-profile <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/20\/big-east-basketball-transfers-could-make-conference-even-better\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">transfers recruited by Pitino<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Unquestionably, he is a major reason why the Red Storm is off to a strong start.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The next game at MSG will be against Villanova on Jan. 11 followed by a matchup with Georgetown three days later. After that, the Feb. 23 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/12\/breaking-down-the-top-10-big-east-mens-basketball-matchups\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">matchup with UConn<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at MSG is one being circled on the schedule.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;It was unbelievable for me and my son and we will remember this forever,&#8221; Pitino said. &#8220;My pre-game speech was guys this is your first game in Madison Square Garden. I grew up on 26th Street between Third Avenue. I always dreamed of playing a high school game in the Garden, playing in the NIT back at UMass. You get to call this your home court. You don&#8217;t understand how special it is. It is the World&#8217;s Most Famous Arena for a reason. For New Mexico, for my son, for me every time I walk into this building it is special.&#8221;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3><b>Tough Stretch For The Red Storm<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">St. John&#8217;s played its first four games in New York. Now the Red Storm head to the Bahamas for the <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/bahamarhoops.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Red Storm face Baylor on Thursday and plays either Tennessee or Virginia on Friday. That will be followed by a matchup with Georgia, also in the Bahamas. St. John&#8217;s returns home to face Harvard on Nov. 30 at Carnesecca Arena.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was not just another day at the office for legendary coach Rick Pitino. The Pitino reunion saw the Hall of Fame St. John&#8217;s coach improve to 3-1 when going up against his son Richard Pitino. St. John&#8217;s led by 11 points at halftime in the 85-71 win at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. All [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5287,"featured_media":107571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,773],"tags":[4447,1242,1450],"class_list":["post-107549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-college-basketball","tag-big-east-basketball","tag-rick-pitino","tag-st-johns-red-storm"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5287"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}