Rick Pitino has had a lot to say about religious fasting in recent weeks as his basketball team at St. John’s University in New York wrapped up the regular season and began Big East Tournament play.
The coach has offered support to junior Sadiku Ibine Ayo, who is Muslim and fasting for Ramadan, while criticizing non-Muslim players experimenting with long fasts of their own.
“They should never ever do that again,” Pitino said of some of his players earlier this week, according to NJ.com. “You’re not helping Sadiku by doing that. You can’t do that, you can’t go through practice without water. It’s very, very unhealthy, it’s very dangerous.”
Pitino told reporters that he’s joked with Ayo about converting to Catholicism during March Madness, noting that Ayo responded by asking him to try some Ramadan practices.
“He said to me, ‘You can’t swear, Coach.’ I said, ‘OK, I will not swear.’ So I haven’t had said a swear word in three, in four days of practice. And I’m trying to help him along,” Pitino said, per NJ.com.
Basketball players observing Ramadan
During Ramadan, which started Feb. 28 this year, most Muslims abstain from eating food, drinking water and taking medicine from sunrise to sunset. They wake before dawn to eat, pray and prepare for the day.
Ramadan observance always requires careful planning, but that’s especially true for athletes like Ayo, who must work with trainers and coaches to ensure they can stay healthy and capable of playing at a high level during their fast.
Teams typically devise a plan to get Muslim players well-hydrated before sunrise and then have snacks and drinks on hand for when it’s time to break the fast, as the Deseret News previously reported.
Ayo has been receiving IV fluids before sunrise, Pitino said.
Pitino joke about Ayo
Pitino joked about Ayo’s morning IVs after St. John’s beat Butler in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.
Ayo came off the bench in the game and contributed 5 points and three rebounds in 14 minutes of play.
A jovial Pitino told reporters after the game that he’d talked with the trainers about offering a special mix of IV fluids to Ayo moving forward.
“I asked the trainers and him, ‘Could we get something in the IV to help his defense?’ They said they’re going to work on that,” he said.
Top-seeded St. John’s faces No. 5 seed Marquette on Friday in the Big East Tournament semifinals.