CINCINNATI \u2014 Rick Pitino\u2019s 900th win was as tense and dramatic as many of the previous 899.<\/p>\n
Down 16 points early in the second half and with his star, forward Zuby Ejiofor, on the bench after fouling out in the final minute, St. John\u2019s found a way to get the Hall of Fame coach the milestone win.<\/p>\n
Dylan Darling came up big in crunch time as the suddenly refuse-to-lose Johnnies prevailed at hostile Cintas Center, 88-83 over Xavier, giving Pitino the 900th on-court victory of his career in his first matchup against his son Richard as league rivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cNine hundred [wins] means that I\u2019ve had longevity,\u201d the elder Pitino said. \u201cI spent 10 years in the pros, and so 900 with 10 years in the pros is really something. I\u2019m very thankful to all my players, to all my assistant coaches for helping me get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Afterward, St. John\u2019s players were given commemorative T-shirts. In the visitors locker room, they doused Pitino with a bucket of Gatorade and Ejiofor gave Pitino the game-used basketball as a keepsake. The soaked coach told his players: \u201cTo be with you for 900 is extra special.\u201d<\/p>\n
St. John\u2019s head coach Rick Pitino, center, is congratulated by his team after earning his 900th career coaching win against Xavier, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Cincinnati. AP<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was awesome,\u201d Darling said. \u201cHe won\u2019t say he really wanted this win, [but] we all know he really wanted this win over his son. Really fun to be able to pull through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Darling scored five of his 11 points in the final 1:20, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 53.2 seconds left, and Ruben Prey added a key offensive rebound and stick-back that iced it.<\/p>\n
CHECK OUT THE LATEST BIG EAST STANDINGS<\/a> AND ST. JOHN\u2019S STATS<\/a><\/p>\n Filip Borovicanin\u2019s 3-point play fouled out Ejiofor with 1:12 to go. It gave Xavier a one-point edge. But Darling sank a 3-pointer on the other end, and St. John\u2019s forced a Tre Carroll turnover.<\/p>\n Soon, the Johnnies (15-5, 8-1 Big East) were celebrating their sixth consecutive victory. It also marked their second straight time coming from at least 15 points down to win, taking a page out of last year\u2019s team\u2019s playbook. On Tuesday, they rallied to beat Seton Hall after digging themselves a deep hole early in the second half.<\/p>\n St. John\u2019s Red Storm forward Zuby Ejiofor (24) pokes the ball away from Xavier Musketeers forward Jovan Milicevic (24) in the first half at the Cintas Center. Aaron Doster-Imagn Images<\/p>\n St. John\u2019s Red Storm guard Dylan Darling (0) drives to the basket against Xavier Musketeers forward Filip Borovicanin (4) in the second half at the Cintas Center. Aaron Doster-Imagn Images<\/p>\n \u201cWhen your team, with that type of crowd, doesn\u2019t bend, doesn\u2019t break, just keeps staying in there, it\u2019s remarkable how they\u2019re playing right now,\u201d Pitino said. \u201cSo I\u2019m really proud of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Bryce Hopkins had a big second half and finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. Dillon Mitchell\u2019s ascension continued with 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals, Ian Jackson scored 16 points and Ejiofor added 13 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Carroll led Xavier (11-9, 3-6) with a career-high 31 points.<\/p>\n It was Pitino\u2019s fourth win in five meetings over his son, Richard, who dressed for the occasion. Richard typically wears a sweatsuit to games, but he dressed up in a suit this time. When Pitino saw his son before the game, he cracked a smile.<\/p>\n \u201cHe hates wearing suits, so I really appreciated that,\u201d Rick said, and joked: \u201cIt\u2019s probably my suit.\u201d<\/p>\n St. John\u2019s Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino, left, talks with Xavier Musketeers head coach Richard Pitino, right, before their game at the Cintas Center. Aaron Doster-Imagn Images<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tYour weekly dispatch from the No. 1 source on the Johnnies\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside St. John’s by Zach Braziller, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n It was a wild second half. St. John\u2019s, down 16 at one point, went up five with less than three minutes left. But Carroll hit a deep stepback 3-pointer and Malik Messina-Moore scored on a drive to pull Xavier even at 79-79 with 1:38 remaining. When Ejiofor fouled out, and the Musketeers retook the lead, the Red Storm hopes felt dim. Then, Darling hit a big shot and they got a key stop to cap their second straight dramatic comeback win.<\/p>\n \u201cPretty amazing that it\u2019s happening with really other people than Zuby,\u201d Pitino said. \u201cI think it\u2019s contagious \u2014 Zuby\u2019s enthusiasm, Zuby\u2019s toughness, is really flowing to the other guys. It\u2019s great to see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI \u2014 Rick Pitino\u2019s 900th win was as tense and dramatic as many of the previous 899. Down…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[18365,4044,16899,14601,99,14602,16895],"class_list":["post-428321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-big-east","tag-college-basketball","tag-richard-pitino","tag-rick-pitino","tag-sports","tag-st-johns-red-storm","tag-xavier-musketeers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}