“Who’s your daddy!” the St. John’s fans chanted as the Johnnies were salting away their 85-71 victory over New Mexico at the Garden Sunday afternoon.
“Who’s your daddy!” they yelled as Rick Pitino was on his way to improving to 3-1 against his son, Richard.
Rick didn’t seem to like it, waving for the crowd to tone it down. Richard didn’t mind it.
“As a New York Yankees fan, all I could think of was Pedro Martinez,” Richard Pitino said. “Other than that, I laughed it off. I didn’t think much of it. This is what our obnoxious New York fans do, and I’m part of it.”
Asked about the chants after the win, Rick said: “I don’t get upset at the crowds, I just wish they stopped saying that. I was not upset.”
It was a solid showing of 12,310, which included roughly 500 New Mexico fans making the trip. It saw Rick beat his son after losing to him in 2022 at New Mexico, when he was still coaching at Iona University.
“The way the [media] and the Garden got behind this game, I thought it was unbelievable,” Rick said. “For me and my son, we’ll remember this forever.”
It is uncertain if the two teams will play again in the future.
Richard said he doubted Rick would ever play a road game with St. John’s at New Mexico. Rick joked that would only happen if he went back to Iona.
“He would never do it, but I would love for him to do it,” Richard said. “It was awesome for our fans.”
Zuby Ejiofor built off his second half against Wagner to produce his best performance of the young season: 13 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 35 minutes.
The junior forward held his own against New Mexico star big man Nelly Junior Joseph (16 points, four rebounds, two blocks), who played for Rick Pitino at Iona University for two years.
“I think Zuby was a big catalyst,” Pitino said. “We have so much respect for Nelly. He causes a lot of problems for a lot of people. Zuby can step away from the basket. He was really a catalyst for making the offense go tonight and obviously he had a big rebounding night.”
Simeon Wilcher came off the bench for the first time this season and logged only 14 minutes.
Pitino said it was a decision based on defensive matchups.
The sophomore guard had four points and three rebounds. …. St. John’s hosted Archbishop Stepinac High School prospects Dylan Perry and Josh Rivera for the game.
