Sports
Pitinos face off again as No.22 St. John's takes on Xavier
Jan 28, 2026; New York, New York, USA; St. John’s Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images The last time Rick Pitino opposed his son Richard, the elder Pitino earned his 900th on-court win as St. John’s beat Xavier on Jan. 24.
Sixteen days later, Rick Pitino will be seeking another milestone at his son’s expense — as well as another opportunity to prove St. John’s is back not only as a title contender in the Big East but as a candidate to play deep into March.
St. John’s will look to continue surging Monday night, when the No. 22 Red Storm hosts Xavier at Madison Square Garden.
St. John’s earned its ninth straight win Friday night, when the host Red Storm snapped No. 3 UConn’s 18-game winning streak with an 81-72 victory.
Xavier hasn’t played since last Tuesday, when the visiting Musketeers fell to UConn, 92-60.
St John’s win Friday was the 903rd on-court win for Pitino, which ties him for third all-time in Division I with former Kansas and North Carolina coach Roy Williams. The NCAA recognizes him with 780 wins after Pitino was stripped of 123 victories due to violations at Louisville.
Mike Krzyzewski (1,202 wins) and Jim Boeheim (1,116 wins) are the only coaches with more on-court victories than Pitino and Williams.
Few of Pitino’s regular-season wins have been as energetic as Friday’s victory, when St. John’s (18-5 overall, 11-1 Big East) led by as many as 11 in the second half before holding off a UConn rally. The Huskies got within one or two points on four occasions, but the Red Storm scored on the subsequent possession every time.
Dylan Darling’s 3-pointer with 3:13 left extended the Red Storm’s lead to 72-67 and sparked a game-ending 12-5 run in front of a frenzied sellout crowd of 19,812 at Madison Square Garden.
“I use the expression ‘no fear of failure.’ I said it every single time out,” Rick Pitino said. “I said, whether we go up 12, they cut it to two — we have no fear.
“Every single player was honed in. They did a fabulous job of doing things down the stretch to help you win.”
The victory was the first for St. John’s over an opponent ranked in the top five since a 70-59 win over no. 3 Villanova on Feb. 3, 2021. The Red Storm pulled within a half-game of UConn (22-2, 12-1) with a rematch looming in Hartford on Feb. 25.
St. John’s dethroned UConn as the Big East regular season and tournament champion last year, when the Red Storm’s bid to appear in the Sweet 16 for the first time this century ended with a second-round loss to Arkansas.
“It was a meaningful game,” said St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor, who led the Red Storm with 21 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, and three blocks on Friday night. “We knew exactly what we were playing for.”
Richard Pitino is looking further ahead than his dad as he rebuilds during his first year at Xavier (12-11 overall, 4-8), which is in a three-way tie for seventh place with Butler and DePaul.
Last year, the Musketeers made the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years under Sean Miller but lost all but two players off the roster after Miller departed for Texas.
The loss to UConn marked the fourth time Xavier has lost a Big East game by at least 20 points. The Musketeers are also 2-4 in games decided by six points or fewer — including the 88-83 loss to St. John’s in which the Red Storm overcame a 16-point second-half deficit.
Three of Xavier’s four leading scorers — Tre Carroll, Roddie Anderson III, and Malik Messina-Moore — are seniors, though starters Jovan Milicevic and All Wright are both sophomores.
“In year one, when you’re starting from scratch, you want to win every game, but you don’t get consumed with that part of it — especially when you’re playing a UConn,” Richard Pitino said last Tuesday. “This is years and years in the making for UConn to build this type of program. I’m very, very confident we can get there.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Women's Top 25 roundup: Duke, LSU notch lopsided wins
Toby Fournier dropped 26 points on 12-of-16 shooting, freshman Arianna Roberson had career highs of 22 points and 16 rebounds and No. 17 Duke thrashed
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Sports
North Carolina State extends ACC win streak with victory over Virginia Tech
Feb 7, 2026; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; NC State Wolfpack guard Quadir Copeland (11) with the ball shoves Virginia Tech Hokies guard Jaden Schutt (2) during the first half of the game at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images Paul McNeil Jr. and Quadir Copeland each poured in 21 points and North Carolina State added to its hot stretch by beating Virginia Tech 82-73 for its longest Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season winning streak (six games) in more than a half-century Saturday afternoon at Raleigh, N.C.
Tre Holloman cranked out 16 points, and Ven-Allen Lubin had 11 points for NC State (18-6, 9-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). McNeil made four 3-pointers, and Hollomon hit seven 3s. Copeland provided 10 assists and five steals.
This is the Wolfpack’s best regular-season stretch in conference play within the same season since going 12-0 in 1973-74. They won the last four ACC regular-season games in 1988-89 and their first three in conference play the next season.
Amani Hansberry (19 points) and Tobi Lawal (17 points, 15 rebounds) led Virginia Tech (16-8, 5-6), which had a week off since falling at home to first-place Duke. Neoklis Avdalas added 14 points, and Jaden Schutt made three 3s on the way to 11 points off the bench.
Virginia Tech, which repeatedly failed to string together scoring possessions, went 7-for-25 on 3-pointers. The Hokies finished with 15 turnovers and 14 assists.
NC State overcame a shaky shooting outing from Darrion Williams, who had heated up in recent games, but was limited to four points on 1-for-9 shooting. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech starter Ben Hammond didn’t score in 32 minutes, missing all nine of his shots.
The Wolfpack, fresh off a big comeback Tuesday night at SMU, led 36-24 at halftime. Virginia Tech more than doubled its first-half output in the second half but it wasn’t enough.
Holloman’s 3-pointer gave the Wolfpack a 20-7 lead slightly more than eight minutes into the game. Virginia Tech didn’t have a 2-point basket until more than 10 minutes into the game.
Virginia Tech played again without guard Tyler Johnson, who hasn’t been in a game since prior to Christmas but earlier in the week was considered likely to return.
–Field Level Media
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Villanova takes over in second half, ends Georgetown's win streak
Feb 7, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Villanova Wildcats guard Acaden Lewis (55) drives as Georgetown Hoyas guard Malik Mack (2) defends during the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-Imagn Images Returning to his hometown, freshman Acaden Lewis scored a career-high 26 points to propel Villanova to an 80-73 Big East Conference victory over Georgetown on Saturday in Washington, D.C.
Duke Brennan put up 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Wildcats (18-5, 9-3 Big East) who won their third straight and completed a regular season sweep of the Hoyas.
Tyler Perkins added 15 points and eight rebounds, and Malachi Palmer scored all 10 of his points in the second half for Villanova which trailed by six points early in the second half before rallying for the victory.
Lewis fueled the comeback with 17 of his points coming in the final 11 minutes. His consecutive 3-pointers just 47 seconds apart gave the Wildcats their biggest lead of the game 77-69 with 1:46 left.
Lewis’ performance helped compensate for subpar showing by Villanova’s top scorer Bryce Lindsay, who missed all eight of his shots, while going 0 of 6 from 3-point range as he failed to score for the first time in two seasons.
Malik Mack scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half for the Hoyas (13-11, 5-8) who were gunning for their fifth straight conference win, a feat they had not accomplished since 2013.
Vince Iwuchukwu came off the bench, adding 15 points with 12 rebounds and KJ Lewis added 13 points for Georgetown, which committed 14 turnovers and were outscored off turnovers 23-3.
Early in the second half, Villanova started a 17-4 run which was ignited by a pair of 3-pointers by Palmer. Perkins added a triple and a jumper from the paint as the Wildcats surged to a 61-54 lead with 10:21 left.
A 3-pointer by Mack with 5:41 tied it 64-all. A slam by Iwuchukwu tied it again at 66-66, before Lewis answered with all but one of the points in an 11-3 spurt which put Villanova in command for good.
Georgetown led through most of the first half but never by more than six points. Villanova gained a pair of one-point advantages, but both were brief as they went into halftime down 40-37.
After Villanova opened the second half with 3-pointers from Matt Hodge and Perkins to take a 43-40 lead, Georgetown answered with a 10-1 run.
The spree was bookended by 3-pointers from Caleb Williams and Mack as the Hoyas grabbed a 50-44 advantage.
– Field Level Media
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North Carolina State extends ACC win streak with victory over Virginia Tech
