SWEET 16!!! Hogs take down 2-seed St. John's, 75-66

March 22, 2025

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Arkansas upset 2-seed and fifth-ranked St. John’s 75-66 in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament inside a rowdy Amica Mutual Pavilion Saturday afternoon to advance to the program’s 15th Sweet 16.

The Razorbacks and Red Storm slugged it out in a physical game that saw 44 total fouls, including 25 in the second half. The Hogs, however, took control early and led for over 34 minutes but not without St. John’s cutting the deficit to two points with just over four minutes remaining. Arkansas answered with a Billy Richmond III jumper to spur a 9-2 run to end the game and send the Hogs to their fourth Sweet 16 in five seasons.

A key to the win was Arkansas finishing the first half with a 7-0 run and opening the second half with an 11-2 spurt.

Richmond led Arkansas and tied his career highs with nine rebounds and 16 points as one of three players in double digits, fellow freshman Karter Knox added 15 points with a career-high four blocked shots and Johnell Davis added 13 points. Knox went 9-for-11 from the free throw line to go with six boards.

Zuby Ejiofor led all players with 23 points and 12 rebounds as St. John’s pounded the glass, out rebounding the Razorbacks 51-45 with 28 offensive rebounds.

Arkansas will face third-seed Texas Tech in the Sweet 16 next Thursday (Mar. 27) in San Francisco.

FIRST HALF: Arkansas: 35 – St. John’s: 32

Arkansas scored first and led most of the first half (14:17). Karter Knox set the tone early on both ends of the floor. As he scored seven of Arkansas’ first 14 points and blocked two shots on one possession.
St. John’s was down 24-19 before a flagrant one foul was called on Arkansas.
The Red Storm made 1-of-2 free throws then had back-to-back dunks to tie the game at 24.
Boogie Fland answered with a 3-pointer. But St. John’s came back with a 6-0 run to lead 30-27.
Overall, St. John’s out-scored Arkansas 13-4 to lead 32-28.
However, Arkansas ended the half on a 7-0 run to lead 35-32 at the break. Fland scored on a jumper, Billy Richmond III had a layup, Zvonimir Ivisic made a hook shot (to put Arkansas back on top) and Fland made a tough runner as the first half came to a close.
Arkansas only shot 37.5% from the field and 16.7% from 3-point but the Hogs held St. John’s to 23.8% shooting and 7.7% (1-of-13) from 3-point.
Jonas Aidoo (who only played 6;48 due to foul trouble), Karter Knox and Billy Richmond III each scored seven points to lead Arkansas.
Knox added six rebounds and a career-high three blocked shots.
Zuby Ejiofor scored 16 of St. John’s 32 points.

SECOND HALF: Arkansas: 40 – St. John’s: 34

Arkansas started the period with a 5-1 run to force a St. John’s timeout. After the break, the Razorbacks extended the run to 11-2 to lead by 10 (44-34). Overall, Arkansas made 8 of its first 12 shots to start the half.
Arkansas pushed its lead to a game-high 13 points (55-42) with 11:32 left.
St. John’s cut its deficit to two (62-60), including a 7-0 run.
Neither team scored over the next 1:07 before a Trevon Brazile layup with 5:04 to play. Later, the Red Storm got two within two again (66-64) with 4:11 remaining. From that point and with 2:58 left, Richmond hit a pull-up jumper and the Hogs outscored the Red Storm 11-4 to close out the win.
Specifically, up four with 20 seconds left, Arkansas scored the final five points of the game at the free throw line.
Arkansas shot 48.4% from the field in the second half despite going 0-of-7 from 3-point range

GAME NOTES:

For the second time this season (and second game in a row), Arkansas’ starting lineup was D.J. Wagner, Johnell Davis, Karter Knox, Trevon Brazile and Jonas Aidoo.
Arkansas won the opening tip.
Johnell Davis scored the game’s first points with layup at 19:29.
Zvonimir Ivisic was Arkansas’ first subs.
Arkansas had seven blocked shots, tying for the second-most by a Razorback team in an NCAA Tournament game. Karter Knox had four rejections, also tying for second-most in an NCAA Tourney.
Arkansas improves to 2-1 all-time versus St. John’s. All three meetings have come in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Arkansas improves to 52-35 in NCAA Tourney games, including 13-10 in the second round.
John Calipari improves to 59-22 in NCAA Tournament games. He leads all active coaches and ranks sixth all-time with 59 NCAA Tourney wins. He was tied with Bill Self with 57 NCAA Tourney wins prior to beating Kansas in the first round and Rick Pitino ranks ninth with 55 NCAA Tourney wins.
Calipari, a 2015 Naismith Hall of Fame inductee, defeated fellow Hall of Famers Self and Pitino in back-to-back games. Calipari is only the fourth coach to ever win back-to-back tournament games against Naismith Memorial Hall-of-Famers.
This was the 24th time Calipari and Pitino have met as collegiate head coaches. Calipari owns a 14-10 advantage, winning 9 of the last 11. The two also met six times as NBA head coaches, each winning three times versus the other.
Arkansas improves to 5-1 all-time in Providence, including a 4-0 mark in NCAA Tournament games. Coach Calipari improves to 4-0 when playing NCAA Tournament games in Providence.

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