It was a high-intensity game reminiscent of March Madness. The No. 15 Iowa State edged No. 14 St. John’s despite battling foul and injury trouble. The Cyclones won the battle in the desert to claim their first ranked win of the season. But while it was all roses for the Cyclones, it wasn’t the same for the Johnnies. And it was pretty clear as they entered the postgame conference.

The frustrations were already boiling over after the loss for Rick Pitino. The Red Storm battled back from a 10-point deficit in the first half and then took a 45–43 lead at the break. Still, the team couldn’t close it out late. Making it worse were the questions at the postgame conference, specifically the one where the reporter called out Pitino’s late-game timeout management.

What else would you expect? Pitino called the inquiry “ridiculous” and insisted that the team had already run the play he wanted. Even in the follow-up question, he dismissed the idea that Dylan Darling fouling out cost them the game.

“As I just told you, it had nothing to do with it. The guards played excellent defense, they didn’t come out with the blocking out on the glass. They got four offensive rebounds with the game on the line, it wasn’t Dylan Darling. It was their ability to come up with that backboard and our inability to come up with the rebound,” he said.

This is a developing story…