Rick Pitino was the center of attention on Wednesday night as his St. John’s Red Storm suffered a 72-40 blowout loss at the hands of the UConn Huskies. The 15th-ranked Red Storm was held to just 20% shooting, and Pitino suffered his second-largest loss of his career as the head coach of an AP-ranked team.
Pitino took full blame for the 32-point loss and assured the fans that the team would move on from the devastating loss. He is now in the news for his conduct after the game, as USBWA (US Basketball Writers Association) president Matt Norlander called out Pitino for being a no-show during the post-game presser.
According to Norlander, Mike Vaccaro—a regular in the New York sports writing scene—was present at the post-game press conference to get a quote from Pitino, who didn’t show up. Vaccaro uses a prosthetic leg and uses a crutch to help himself walk, and he couldn’t make it in time to catch Pitino near the St. John’s locker room. Norlander highlighted the chain of events through a series of posts on X…