Richard Pitino is once again trolling his Hall of Fame father Rick.
This time over the elder Pitino's latest decision to ban his team from the postgame handshake line.
Following St. John's thrilling 72-70 victory over Providence Friday night at the AMP thanks to Zuby Ejiofor's game-winning putback jumper, Rick Pitino took to social media to explain his decision to have his team abstain from postgame handshakes. He had originally posted his intention to end the tradition a day earlier.
"I thought my tweet regarding my respect for coaches and players was quite clear," Pitino wrote. "We almost had a fight during the Bryant game in the handshake line and coaches had to get in the middle. We all shake hands before the game but my love and respect for PC is so high that now is not the time,but the fighting nonsense has to stop!"
Richard Pitino, the head coach at New Mexico, then chimed in:
"So are you shaking hands or not?!?!?!"
The Big East has already taken out the mandate to shake pregame and left postgame to the discretion of coaches, NJ Advance Media has learned.
The NBA does not have postgame handshakes and the teams sometimes just wave at each other.
The two Pitinos did, in fact, shake hands after St. John's beat New Mexico, 85-71, on Nov. 17 at Madison Square Garden. In that game, there was no handshake line issue, but fans did taunt Richard as his father asked them to stop.
The Bryant game was Dec. 11 at Carnesecca Arena and tensions apparently flared in the handshake line after St. John's 99-77 victory. Pitino said a Bryant player elbowed St. John's guard Deivon Smith in the line and it started a melee and the coaches got involved.
A scuffle also broke out after the Providence-Rhode Island game on Dec. 7 because Providence players apparently did not appreciate how Rhody's David Fuchs dunked as time expired in the Rams' 69-63 victory.
Richard Pitino has been known to have some fun with his father's comments and Tweets.
Last month, he said his dad's suggestion that he would ultimately replace Rick at St. John's was "insane."
"I thought, oh there's my dad saying another insane thing, hopefully nobody's listening to him," Richard, who is 1-2 coaching against his father, said Friday on a Zoom call with reporters. "I think he was probably messing around. I'm not sure where that came from. That's never, ever been a conversation that we've had."
As for the handshake line ban, time will tell if St. John's keeps it up or not.
RED STORM WINS DESPITE HORRID FREE THROW SHOOTING
St. John's improved to 10-2 and looks like an NCAA Tournament team, per Tim Brando of Fox, despite shooting a horrid 11-of-26 from the foul line.
"If you go 11-for-26 from the line, you are supposed to lose the game," Pitino told reporters. "We could have won it comfortably if we made them, but we didn't. We wanted the tough win."
Once again, St. John's had a poor first half (outscored 42-29) and once again they had a resurgent second half (outscoring Providence 43-28).
Ejiofor won the game with the game-winning putback jumper off a miss by Smith.
"Zuby [Ejiofor's] a monster, always has been," Pitino said.
Said Ejiofor: "Obviously, it was good to be on the good side of a buzzer beater and just win on the road. Showing your toughness, fighting through adversity, coming back in the second half and taking care of business. Everybody can go home and enjoy Christmas."
PITINO PAYS HOMAGE TO BILLY DONOVAN
Billy Donovan was named this week as a candidate for the Naismith Hall of Fame as a coach, and Pitino is thrilled.
Donovan, now the coach of the Chicago Bulls, was the point guard on Providence's 1987 Final Four team coached by Pitino.
"Billy is like a son to me," Pitino said. "He deserves to be up in that rafter. There are only two Final Fours in the history of [Providence]. Billy carried our basketball team. Without Billy the Kid, those dreams can't come true, so he deserves it. There are only eight coaches in the history of the game that have won back-to-back championships, and as a player, he played in the Final Four. Naismith [Memorial Basketball] Hall of Fame is calling and I couldn't be any happier."
Video recently resurface of a younger Pitino doing a drill with Donovan during their time at PC -- and it is classic. It's not clear what's more entertaining -- the short shorts or Pitino's accent.
Donovan is one of several coaches nominated for the Hall of Fame. Rick Barnes (Tennessee), John Beilein (retired) and Jim Larranaga (Miami) are also on the ballot.
Legendary New York City scout Tom Konchalski is also on the ballot as a contributor.
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