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Arkansas advances to Sweet 16 with massive win over Rick Pitino, 2-seed St. John’s
By Ethan Stone
Published:
St. John’s and Arkansas played an exceptionally entertaining basketball game that, to an extent, was hijacked by shoddy officiating Saturday afternoon.
Big man Zvonimir Ivisic fouled out before the 10-minute mark in the 2nd half. St. John’s’ Kadary Richmond was out of the game before the 5-minute mark. In total, 44 fouls were called across 40 minutes of basketball.
But despite the officiating and despite some of the top players fouling out prematurely, Rick Pitino and John Calipari’s squads gave the fans a strong end. John Calipari, once again, came out on top and Arkansas – which won 75-66 – will play in the Sweet 16.
The Razorbacks posted a balanced scoring effort. Billy Richmond III scored 18 points while Karter Knox did a little bit of everything, posting 15 points with 6 rebounds and 4 blocks. Defensively, Knox was an absolute monster on Saturday.
St. John’s couldn’t hit a shot down the stretch, thanks in part to an Arkansas defense that played as well as it has all season long. The Red Storm finished the day having shot 28.1% from the field and 9.1% – 2-22 – from beyond the 3-point arc.
Arkansas started SEC play 0-5, and for a while it seemed like the Razorbacks were likely to miss the tournament altogether. But Arkansas locked in, finished 8-5 in SEC play and earned the 10-seed in the West region. And so far, Coach Calipari has bested some truly fantastic fellow coaches – Bill Self and Rick Pitino.
Next up, Arkansas will fly to San Francisco to take on the winner of Texas Tech/Drake. The Bulldogs and Red Raiders are set to face off Saturday evening at 6:10 p.m. ET on TNT.
Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.
