A special season ended for the St. John's basketball team on Friday. St. John's lost to Duke in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. It was the program's first trip to the Sweet 16 under legendary head coach Rick Pitino.
Despite a strong effort from the Red Storm, the club just wasn't able to hold off Duke. St. John's missed some defensive assignments in the second half, allowing Duke to score 41 second half points.
Duke also made 10 of their last 13 shots for the game. The Blue Devils shot 57 percent from the field in the second half.
“You can’t have mistakes like that at this time of the year, and it cost us,” St. John's forward Dillon Mitchell said, per the New York Post. “It cost us the game. It cost us our season.”
That was clearly brutal to watch for St. John's fans. The Red Storm had the overall no. 1 seed Duke on the ropes as the second half got started. Duke was trailing St. John's by 10, and Pitino looked like he was headed to yet another Elite Eight as head coach.
It soon went awry. St. John's started missing shots. The Red Storm seemed to be panicking on the floor, as the threes stopped falling.
“Our guys played with great heart. They made some defensive mistakes down the stretch, but that’s a credit to [Duke],” Pitino said. “We had our moments in the game. We fought hard all season. We’re all very disappointed we don’t have a chance to win a national championship, but that’s a credit to Duke.”
The Red Storm also missed a critical free throw in the final 15 seconds of the game. St. John's shot just 50 percent at the free-throw line in the contest. That is certainly not a recipe for success in March Madness.
St. John's fans, don't give up hope. The future certainly looks bright for the program, with Pitino as head coach. He has now led four college basketball programs to the Sweet 16.
St. John's basketball hopes to have another special season in 2026-27.
