PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Fresh off its first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years, the No. 2 St. John’s men’s basketball team (31-4) will face No. 10 Arkansas (21-13) in the Second Round on Saturday at 2:40 p.m. in Providence, R.I. The winner will punch its ticket to the Sweet 16 next week at Chase Center in San Francisco.
The second-round contest in the West Region set to be played at Amica Mutual Pavilion, home court of the Providence Friars, will air on CBS with Andrew Catalon and Steve Lappas calling the action. Evan Washburn will report from the sideline for the national broadcast. All NCAA Tournament contests can also be seen on March Madness Live.
Westwood One Sports will carry the national radio broadcast with Chris Carrino and Jordan Cornette on the call from the Ocean State. Click here to tune in to any NCAA Tournament broadcast.
St. John’s audio broadcast of the game on the LEARFIELD Red Storm Sports Network with John Minko and Brandon Tierney will also be available on a variety of platforms including the Varsity Network App, TuneIn Radio, RedStormSports.com and the St. John’s Red Storm mobile app. The radio broadcast can also be heard on SiriusXM radio channel 209 or 202 and via the SiriusXM App.
St. John’s picked up its first victory in the 2025 Big Dance on Thursday night, downing No. 15 Omaha, 83-53. After a slow start, the Johnnies cruised in the final 20 minutes outscoring the Mavericks, 50-25 in the second half to tie a program record with 31 victories during the 2024-25 campaign. The Red Storm match the previous program mark set by the 1984-85 (31-4) and 1985-86 (31-5) teams.
In Thursday’s win over Omaha, the Red Storm nailed 14 3-pointers, setting a new program single-game NCAA Tournament record and matching the season-high from its double-overtime contest against then-No. 13/14 Baylor on Nov. 22 in the Bahamas. The Johnnies smashed the program’s previous NCAA Tournament record of 10 in the 1999 Big Dance against Indiana. RJ Luis Jr. splashed a career-high five 3-pointers, tying Erick Barkley’s mark against Gonzaga on March 18, 2000, for the program’s individual single-game record in the NCAA Tournament. The Red Storm also dished out 21 assists on 29 made field goals and held Omaha to shoot just 25.7 percent (18-70 FG) from the field.
Luis, who led all scorers with 22 points on Thursday, has been named to all four major All-America teams after a breakout junior campaign. The BIG EAST Player of the Year was tabbed- AP Second Team All-America, NABC Second Team All-America, USBWA Second Team All-America and Sporting News Third Team All-America. Luis has eclipsed 20 points in six of his last seven appearances and is averaging 18.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. St. John’s has faced Arkansas twice previously, splitting the two matchups that both occurred in the NCAA Tournament Second Round. Chris Mullin scored 26 points to lead St. John’s to a 68-65 victory over Arkansas on March 16, 1985, in Salt Lake City, Utah on the Johnnies road to the 1985 Final Four. Arkansas prevailed 80-74 over St. John’s in Winston-Salem, N.C. on March 20, 1993, as David Cain led the Red Storm with 19 points. Arkansas owns a 21-13 overall record while finishing with an 8-10 mark in the SEC, tying for ninth place. In the NCAA Tournament First Round on Thursday, the Razorbacks beat No. 7 seed Kansas, 77-72, as Jonas Aidoo scored 22 points, made three steals and three blocked shots to lead Arkansas.
The Razorbacks rank fifth in NCAA Division I in blocks per game, averaging 5.6 per game. Rick Pitino holds a 7-4 all-time coaching record against Arkansas.
The winner of Saturday’s contest will advance to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 to face the winner of No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 11 Drake on Thursday, March 27 at the Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco.
