The first high seed has gone down in the 2025 NCAA tournament.
John Calipari’s No. 10 Arkansas got the best of Rick Pitino’s No. 2 St. John’s in a 75-66 West region upset that was dominated by fouls and key players in foul trouble.
The Red Storm trailed by 13 at one point in the second half and cut Arkansas’ lead to 66-64 with 4:11 to go. But a Billy Richmond III jumper with 2:58 remaining restored the lead back to four, and a steal by Boogie Fland and a bucked by D.J. Wagner immediately after a St. John’s timeout following Richmond’s basket helped seal the game.
RAZORBACKS CLUTCHING UP LATE 🔥#MarchMadness @RazorbackMBB pic.twitter.com/mUXxcuzxB0
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 22, 2025
It’s the fourth time in the past five seasons that Arkansas has advanced to at least the Sweet 16. Before missing the tournament a year ago under Eric Musselman, the Razorbacks had gone to the Elite Eight in 2021 and 2022 and the Sweet 16 in 2023.
The victory is the third for Calipari against Pitino in the NCAA tournament. The national title winners were 2-2 against each other in the postseason and hadn't met in March Madness since the 2012 Final Four when Calipari was at Kentucky and Pitino coached Louisville. It also means a Calipari-coached team is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019. Kentucky lost twice in the first round and once in the second round in each of the past three tournaments.
St. John's star and Big East player of the year RJ Luis Jr. struggled mightily on Saturday and was on the bench for the final 4:56 of the game. Luis led the team with 18.5 points per game this season but was just 3-of-17 from the field and scored nine points.
