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St. John’s Horrible Performance in This Category Costs Them a Trip to the Sweet 16

St. John’s had a chance to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16 and instead, they had a horrific shooting night and were sent packing.

Anthony Moeglin

Mar 22, 2025; Providence, RI, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks forward Billy Richmond III (24) blocks a shot St. John's Red Storm guard RJ Luis Jr. (12) during the first half at Amica Mutual Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
Mar 22, 2025; Providence, RI, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks forward Billy Richmond III (24) blocks a shot St. John's Red Storm guard RJ Luis Jr. (12) during the first half at Amica Mutual Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images / Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

St. John’s dream season has officially come to a close. The Red Storm entered Saturday with a chance against the 10th-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks to get to the Sweet 16. 

In a battle of two Hall-of-Fame coaches, John Calipari’s Razorbacks got the best of Rick Pitino’s squad.

Outside of the game being questionably refereed, the main story behind St. John’s loss was their inability to shoot the basketball. This has been a common theme for them all season long, but on Saturday, they were historically bad.

From the field, the Red Storm finished shooting 21-for-75, which is good for just 28 percent. From behind the arc, they were an ice-cold 2-for-22, a chilly nine percent clip. What made things worse is that they were 13-for-33 from inside the paint. They had 20 misses from six feet and in.

Mar 22, 2025; Providence, RI, USA; St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino reacts during the second half of a second roun
Mar 22, 2025; Providence, RI, USA; St. John's Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino reacts during the second half of a second round men’s NCAA Tournament game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Amica Mutual Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images / Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

Big East player of the year and star Johnny RJ Luis Jr. was 3-for-17 from the field and actually finished the game on the bench for the final five minutes of play.

In a game that they ended up losing 75-66, St. John’s had its share of chances to win. 

Shooting was a problem for St. John’s all season long. As a team, they were a 40 percent shooting team from the field and they were just north of 30 percent from three on the year. This was not all that uncharacteristic of Pitino-coached teams. Two of his title teams were just as bad at shooting, they just never had the devastating tournament performance.

St. John’s historic season comes to a screeching halt. Their final tally will be a 31-5 record and an 18-2 Big East record, Big East regular season championship and Big East tournament championship. In year two, Pitino totally turned the program around, but it wasn’t enough.

Next year, expect the Red Storm to be just as tough, but able to shoot the basketball.

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Anthony Moeglin
ANTHONY MOEGLIN

Anthony Moeglin is a northeast Ohio native, who most notably quarterbacked John Carroll University to the NCAA DIII National Semifinals in 2016 after beating the No. 1 team in the country twice in a 4-week stretch. He contributes written and video/podcast content across a variety of the sites in the On SI network, including regular video coverage of the Cleveland Browns, Ohio State Buckeyes, Cleveland Cavaliers.

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