Johnnies grind out OT win over Xavier, but Pitino more impressed with his son than his team’s effort

Richard Pitino (left) greets his father, Rick, before Xavier faced St. John’s Monday. Red Storm defeated Musketeers in overtime, but elder Pitino was more impressed with his son’s coaching than his own Johnnies. (Photo by the Cincinnati Enquirer)

NEW YORK — When you win over 900 games and a pair of national championships in a career that spans over a half-century, chances are you do not impress easily.

Rick Pitino fits that mold, and did so again Monday after his St. John’s team needed overtime to escape a game Xavier unit that nearly upended the Red Storm two weeks prior on the Musketeers’ home floor in Cincinnati.

However, this is Rick Pitino, the coach. Rick Pitino, the father, is an entirely different story.

The duality of man came into play again at Madison Square Garden Monday night, as opposing Rick on the sideline was his son, Richard, now more than halfway through his first season at the reins of a Xavier program still acclimating itself to life without Sean Miller. The junior Pitino is 12-12 in the Queen City after leaving New Mexico to take a job opposite his father in the Big East Conference. A well-traveled coach in his own right at just 43 years of age — Richard has already coached at Florida International and Minnesota as well — his initial go-round with the Musketeers started with a near-upset against Marist before gaining steam in non-conference play and now twice coming seconds away from earning bragging rights in the family for a second time (Richard’s New Mexico team defeated Rick’s Iona team in 2022).

After Monday’s 87-82 battle, one that saw Xavier push the 17th-ranked Johnnies to the limit before three of its players fouled out in overtime, Richard left more of an impression on his counterpart than the players that got Rick his 904th career victory.

“I’m real excited with the victory, but I’m more proud of my son,” the elder Pitino remarked. “Because in two games against (Xavier), he’s totally outcoached me and their staff outcoached us. We could not guard them and we could not stop them in their offense. They’ve outplayed us twice, but we just gutted it out in the final minutes to come away with a victory, which good teams do. So I’m disappointed in our defense, but very proud of my son.”

Xavier, which had St. John’s on the ropes with a 16-point second-half lead on January 24, overcame early foul trouble for forwards Tre Carroll and Jovan Milicevic, as well as point guard Malik Messina-Moore, three of six Musketeers with two or more fouls in a first half that somehow ended in a 42-all tie.

Richard deftly navigated the foul situation in the second stanza, shuffling Carroll and Milicevic out of the lineup consistently, relying on Filip Borovicanin and Anthony Robinson — the latter of whom had not made a field goal in Big East play before Monday — to stem the tide against the imposing trio of St. John’s bigs in Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell. Xavier tried valiantly to stay with the physical Johnnies, but was worn down by the pressure defense and inability to create in the paint more than the 41-17 disparity in free throw attempts.

“They were just ramping up the physicality,” Richard Pitino said of St. John’s. “We weren’t able to get to the rim, we weren’t able to get to the free throw line, 28-for-41 for them, 9-for-17 (for us). To even be in overtime is pretty remarkable.”

“They’re great kids (who) really believe in what we’re building. 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 (made) free throws to nine and think you’re gonna win the game. We had a chance.”

The younger Pitino’s coaching pedigree has been questioned somewhat as he has found his way skippering his own yacht and emerging from the large shadow cast by his hall of fame father. But through the Big East season so far, it is almost impossible to argue that he has come the closest to defeating St. John’s since the Red Storm’s sole conference loss on January 3 against Providence. Rick’s Johnnies have won ten straight games since then, but only one team has played them to single digits twice, that being the Xavier group that almost shocked the Garden on Monday. Richard was asked what made the difference, and hinted at floor spacing and ball handling especially.

“I think our spacing has been pretty good against them,” he said. “Until the end, execution-wise, it wasn’t great, but we took care of the basketball. I don’t know how many turnovers we had at our place, but you have to rebound the ball and you have to not turn the ball over to beat them.”

It has also been suspected and speculated in some circles that the son will eventually replace the father whenever Rick decides to call it a career or leave St. John’s for whatever reason. That decision is nowhere near the realm of possibility yet, but what can be drawn from Monday’s conclusion is that wherever Richard coaches in the future, be it at Xavier or anyplace else, he earned a resonant endorsement.

“I hope we don’t play them in the Big East tournament,” Rick said of Xavier. “Like I said, I think my son’s brilliant. I’m proud of him. I hate getting any milestone against him (Rick surpassed Roy Williams on the all-time wins list Monday), but I go away tonight saying my son’s a hell of a coach. And I’m much prouder than 900, 1,000, 1,100. To say my son’s a great coach is much more pleasing to me than any number of victories.”