St. John’s Coach Rick Pitino reached into his motivational playbook Tuesday night in Washington, with his team up 26 and already with enough points to win what became a 66-41 rout of Georgetown. “I told them at halftime I’ve only had one team in my life that had a big lead like that that just went for blood,

With Tuesday’s 66-41 win at Georgetown, the Johnnies improved to 7-0 since the calendar flipped to 2025. They completed their first undefeated January since 1985, a year in which the late Lou Carnesecca led St. John’s to the Final Four.

Rick Pitino joked that senior guard Kadary Richmond was like a fine wine. “He keeps getting better with age,” Pitino quipped. “And he’s 35.” Even if he was 35 and not 23, Richmond still would not have been born the last time St.

As Pitino himself says often, “This is a team Lou Carnesecca would be very proud of,” and the fact is you could add Joe Lapchick and Frank McGuire to that list of former St. John’s coaches enjoying this season from celestial courtside seats.