St. John’s set for Pitino clash with New Mexico at MSG next season

Though the date of the game has yet to be set, the World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden, will be the site of a highly anticipated matchup between father and son. No, LeBron James and Bronny James will not be going head to head against each other at MSG. Technically it’s a possibility, but we don’t know that yet. We do know, however, that Rick Pitino and the St. John’s Red Storm will be hosting Richard Pitino and the New Mexico Lobos in what will likely be a highly-anticipated early season matchup between one of the most iconic coaches in college basketball history and his son, a 12-year coaching veteran in his own right.

“NEWS: St. John’s and New Mexico are finalizing an agreement to play at MSG during the 2024-25 season, according to a source,” per Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.

Rick Pitino, who will be 73 by the time the 2024-25 college basketball season begins, just recently completed his first season at St. John’s in controversial fashion, surprisingly missing out on an NCAA Tournament at-large bid and declining an invite to compete in the NIT. Meanwhile, Richard Pitino has seemingly turned New Mexico into a consistent presence in the Mountain West. Each of the last two seasons, the Lobos have won at least 22 games, and this year, after running the gauntlet in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, New Mexico earned an automatic bid to the Big Dance. In fact, even though it wasn’t the way the Selection Committee saw it, New Mexico winning the Mountain West Tournament is what knocked St. John’s out of the field in my final bracketology projections before the NCAA Tournament began.

Have Rick and Richard coached against each other before? 

They have! In fact, this will be the fourth time that the Pitino’s have coached against one another. But before they ever coached against each other, the Pitino’s coached together. Richard served as an assistant under his father at Louisville for multiple years, including during the 2011-12 season, when Louisville made the Final Four for the second time under the guidance of Rick Pitino. But after that season, Richard accepted his first head coaching position, at Florida International University.

While at Louisville, Rick Pitino was a perfect 2-0 against his son, first when Richard was in his first and only season coaching at FIU in 2012, and then again in 2014 when Richard Pitino, then coaching at the University of Minnesota, met his father and the Cardinals in a neutral site game at Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen in Puerto Rico, and departed with an 81-68 loss.

Richard would finally get a win and bragging rights over his father in 2022, when Rick took his Iona Gaels out west to play against Richard Pitino’s New Mexico squad. The Lobos came away with an 82-74 win at The Pit, and interestingly, that clash between Pitino’s in New Mexico sold about 3,000 more tickets than the average home game for the Lobos during the 2022-23 season. That means, as one would expect, it will be a packed house at MSG when the fourth chapter of this family affair unfolds.