Rick Pitino called out officials after St. John’s heartbreaking double OT loss to Baylor, but fans were quick to remind him of his own controversies.

Rick Pitino called out officials after St. John’s heartbreaking double OT loss to Baylor, but fans quickly reminded him of his own controversies.

It was a wild game between Baylor and St. John’s the other day, November 21, in the opening round of the Baha Mar Hoops Championship.

The St. John’s Red Storm lost 99-98 in a double overtime thriller, and their coach, Rick Pitino, wasn’t happy about it, so he decided to call out the official’s actions at the end of the game.

Pitino calls late-game replay review “highly unethical”

St. John’s Red Storm started the game firing with a terrific performance in the first half, which was erased in an equally bad second half.

But in the second overtime, Pitino was furious about the whistle at the end of the game.

The Red Storm led the game with a 4-point margin, but in an unfortunate series of events, they lost to a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Baylor’s Jeremy Roach.

Just before that fantastic shot, Red Storm’s Zuby Ejiofor missed several critical free throws.

Still, Pitino believes he was “iced out” by referees who decided to watch a camera replay beforehand.

“I felt at the end of the game it was highly unethical to go to the camera on a BS make-up and icing my free-throw shooter. Highly unethical and the referees should never let it happen,” Pitino said to reporters postgame.

Fans question Pitino’s stance on ethics after past controversies

Rick Pitino calling someone else’s actions unethical is some hypocrisy, as his past is stained by Louisville’s firing after an investigation found out he was bribing recruits to join the program.

He may have forgotten about that before attacking the officials, but fans remember.

“Well, if there’s anyone who knows a lot about being “unethical,” it would be Rick Pitino,” one fan wrote.

“Rick Pitino is the last person on this planet that should be allowed to use the word ‘unethical’ unless he’s talking abt himself,” another added.

“I often ask Rick Pitino to tell me what’s ethical,” one joked.

“Rick Pitino is an interesting person to be speaking about what is and is not ethical,” one more called him out.

Pitino’s improper payment to recruits before it was made legal under NIL and his extortion case with a woman he had a sexual encounter with back in 2003 will always be a stain on his resume and one excellent reason why he has no right to call anyone’s actions unethical.

“Looking back on it now, I deserved to be fired by Louisville,” Pitino said on WFAN. “Was I innocent of any wrongdoing?

Yes I was, but I was the leader and I deserved to be fired. I need to move on and that’s what I probably have learned the most.”

Nonetheless, the college basketball community is divided by the referee’s calls during the game against Baylor.

The St. John’s Red Storm showcased enough to win, but unfortunately for Pitino, they didn’t.