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Rick Pitino eviscerated by fans, media for for sitting RJ Luis late in loss to Arkansas
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Rick Pitino was facing a familiar foe on Saturday with 2-seed St. John’s facing John Calipari and 10-seed Arkansas. That matchup delivered another great showdown between the head coaching legends, but it did not go Pitino’s way.
In the end, a game that was mired by some questionable officiating (the two teams were whistled for 44 total fouls) resulted in a 75-66 win for the Razorbacks. They advance to their first Sweet 16 since 2023 and the first for Calipari on an individual basis since 2019 when he was at Kentucky.
However, a major storyline of the game proved to be the play of St. John’s star RJ Luis. The Big East Player of the Year, Luis was the leading scorer for the Red Storm at 18.5 points per game, but he struggled mightily against Arkansas.
Luis was held to 9 points on 3-for-17 shooting, a disastrous result for the star. But it was made even more interesting by Pitino’s decision to sit Luis with around 5 minutes left to play in the contest. The CBS broadcast team was incredulous at Pitino’s decision to keep Luis on the bench in the closing minutes, especially with the game still within reach until the final moments of the game.
To be fair, Luis was undoubtedly struggling, but it’s not often you see a star player and leading scorer left on the bench in those kinds of situations, including a clutch March Madness moment. It will be interesting to see if Pitino addresses that late-game absence, but social media sounded off on the move.
Take a look:
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
