ATLANTA — Rick Pitino felt like it was just another game, even though he was going against his former school and a captain from his 1996 national championship team.
For the first time in nearly a decade, Pitino faced the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday in the opening game of a college basketball doubleheader in Atlanta.
It was no big deal, said the 73-year-old Pitino, who is in his third season as St. John's coach.
"You know, if this was at Rupp (Arena in Lexington), I think I'd have a lot more emotions," Pitino said after Kentucky rallied for a 78-66 victory over his No. 22 Red Storm. "I didn't have any emotions."
Pitino coached the Wildcats from 1989 through 1997, most notably winning the national title in his next-to-last season with Mark Pope as a captain.
Pope is now the head coach at Kentucky.
“I'm really proud of Mark,” Pitino said. “I think he's done a brilliant thing with changing the whole mindset of the team."
Pope also downplayed the significance of facing his former coach.
“The only thing I care about is our team growing,” Pope said. "I love Coach. I love him. But I'm just happy for our guys.”
From Pitino's perspective, Pope has taken a squad that doesn't have a lot of great shooters and molded them into a more physical style of play. That was certainly on display in the second half Saturday as the Wildcats held St. John's without a field goal for nearly nine minutes.
“They're going to be a very good basketball team,” Pitino said. “They're going to have to keep playing smash-mouth basketball and play like that physical team. I give Mark all the credit in the world. He's a big believer in finesse, a big believer in shooting the 3, but it's not working so let's change it, man."
Like Kentucky (8-4), St. John's has been a bit of a disappointment after going 31-5 a year ago to win the Big East Conference.
The Red Storm (7-4) could fall out of the AP Top 25 with the latest setback.
“I'm disappointed with any loss,” Pitino said. “But our job is to get better. We've got a decent basketball team, nothing more than decent. We've got to take decent to good."
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball