St. John’s coach Rick Pitino passed Roy Williams to reach third on the men’s college basketball all-time wins list as the Red Storm edged Xavier 87-82 in overtime on Monday night. The victory, which was Pitino’s 904th, leaves him behind only Jim Boeheim (1,116) and Mike Krzyzewski (1,202) on the NCAA’s list for most victories by a Division I men’s basketball coach.
The tally of 904 includes 123 victories that were officially vacated by the NCAA.
Pitino’s landmark win came against his son, Richard Pitino, who is in his first season as Xavier’s coach, and it didn’t come easily. Tre Carroll scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half to keep the Musketeers (12-12, 4-9 Big East) in it. Zuby Ejiofor led the way for St. John’s (19-5, 12-1) with 25 points, including six in overtime.
It marked Pitino’s second close victory over his son in less than three weeks after St. John’s beat Xavier 88-83 on the road. That win marked the 900th of Pitino’s career.
Pitino, 73, had four straight seasons of 27+ victories at Louisville vacated by the NCAA in 2017 after an NCAA investigation found that he failed to monitor his program amid a scandal that rocked the Cardinals program.
Amid a tumultuous and scandal-ridden end to his Louisville tenure, Pitino left college basketball to coach in Greece before returning at Iona in 2020. Now in his third season at St. John’s, Pitino is poised to continue adding to his total number of career victories.
The only active coach within 50 victories of Pitino’s tally is Arkansas’ John Calipari, who ranks No. 6 on the all-time wins list with 894 victories. That total also included victories ordered vacated by the NCAA.
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