St. John’s is about to see the degree of difficulty in its schedule increase, and the opener of that challenging stretch will be a family affair.
Unbeaten through three games and coming off its first win as a ranked team in nearly a decade, No. 22 St. John’s will host New Mexico on Sunday afternoon in New York in the fourth coaching matchup between Rick Pitino and his son Richard Pitino.
Rick Pitino is 2-1 against his son.
The Red Storm (3-0) are starting a week when they not only face New Mexico, but 12th-ranked Baylor on Thursday in the Baha Mar Hoops tournament in the Bahamas/ St. John’s might face 11th-ranked Tennessee or Virginia in that event.
St. John’s is coming off three wins in its on-campus arena in Queens over Fordham, Quinnipiac and Wagner by a combined 76 points.
“New Mexico is probably the No. 1 offensive-pace team in the country, and I know it better than anybody,” Rick Pitino said after the Red Storm earned their first win as a ranked team since Dec. 28, 2014.
“So we’ve got to get ready for this pace. They’ve got a great guard, they’ve got great support players, they’ve got a terrific inside player. This is a tough, tough test.”
The first three games featured moments when the Red Storm struggled, especially during Wednesday’s 66-45 win over Wagner. St. John’s scored 18 straight points to pull away in the final 10 minutes.
The Red Storm shot 50 percent from the field (21 of 42) but took 13 fewer shots than Wagner and missed 12 of 30 free throws.
RJ Luis Jr. scored 13 points as St. John’s top scorer, but Aaron Scott made three key shots during the decisive run and added 11. Scott made his key contributions after sitting out against Quinnipiac on Nov. 9 with an illness and tweaking his ankle in practice ahead of the Wagner game.
“We did our job against these three teams,” Rick Pitino said. “Now it’s really going to get tough.”
Pitino changed the starting lineup by having Kadary Richmond come off the bench along with Zuby Ejiofor, but both could return to starting on Sunday.
New Mexico (3-0) received 15 points in this week’s Top 25 poll and is seeking its second win over a ranked opponent this season. The Lobos knocked UCLA out of this week’s poll by beating the then-No. 22 Bruins 72-64 on Nov. 8.
New Mexico is attempting to start 4-0 for the second time in three seasons after earning a 100-81 home win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Tuesday, when the Lobos forced 22 turnovers following forcing 21 against UCLA.
Donovan Dent, who is averaging a team-high 19 points a game for the Lobos, totaled 25 points and 10 assists and continued his improvement from his sophomore season. Dent averaged 14.1 points on 52 percent shooting from the field but last season but is shooting 58.8 percent in 2024-25.
“It was a good win for our guys,” Richard Pitino said. “I thought they were ready to go. When you have a big win like UCLA, everyone is telling them how great they are. Then you have another big game against St. John’s coming up. I thought the mental approach was terrific to handle their business against (Corpus Christi).”
Besides Dent’s big showing on Tuesday, Kayde Dotson added 18 points and Tru Washington 15.
–Field Level Media
