SAN DIEGO — Dylan Darling’s first points of East Region No. 5 seed St. John’s 67-65, second-round NCAA Tournament win over fourth-seeded Kansas on Sunday came as the buzzer sounded, sending the Red Storm to their first Sweet 16 since 1999.
The Red Storm will next face No. 1 seed Duke on Friday.
St. John’s (30-6) never trailed in the second half and led by as many as 14 points before the Jayhawks (24-11), behind Darryn Peterson’s 21-point effort, rallied to force a 65-65 tie.
Peterson sank a pair of free throws with 13 seconds remaining and Kansas — having been called for only two personal fouls in the second half — disrupted the Red Storm’s attempts to run a final play with intentional whistles.
But after exhausting its fourth straight foul near midcourt and with less than four seconds remaining, the Jayhawks defense broke down as Darling attacked the middle of the floor of the inbounds pass.
Darling, who was 0-for-4 from the floor before the buzzer-beating layup, dribbled through a seam and laid the decisive basket off the glass to thunderous cheers from the Viejas Arena audience.
“There really wasn’t time for (anything) else,” Darling said. “Oziyah (Sellers) and Joson (Sanon) were in. I told them to go to the corners, and the play is just Zuby (Ejiofor) sets a flat ball screen at the top of the 3-point line.
“I figured if somebody helped off the corners, I would throw it to the corner,” Darling added. “Or if they helped off Zuby, I’d throw it to Zuby. I ended up going right, I saw the lane, and I just went for it.”
Each of Darling’s previous four attempts all came from long range, including an airball that sparked the ire of Red Storm coach Rick Pitino. When asked of having “choice words” for Darling, Pitino initially denied it — to disagreement from Darling.
“I told you to stop aiming and shoot it,” the coach told the St. John’s guard.
Struggles connecting on shots was a theme for both offenses. St. John’s scored 14.5 points fewer than its season-long average of 81.5 per game, and Kansas finishing with 10.4 points fewer than its output.
The Red Storm shot just 25 of 69 (36.2%) from the floor, while the Jayhawks went 24 of 54 (44.4%). One difference for St. John’s was its 3-point shooting — specifically, Bryce Hopkins’ 3-point shooting.
Hopkins scored a team-high 18 points, all on 6-of-9 shooting from long range. The rest of the Red Storm went 5 of 26 from deep.
Peterson shot 3 of 8 from beyond the arc for Kansas, but the rest of the Kansas lineup combined for just two triples.
“When you guard as well and as hard as what St. John’s does, those shots are hard,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “(St. John’s defenders) switch coming off every screen. Those are hard plays.”
Melvin Council Jr. joined Peterson scoring in double-figures for the Jayhawks with 15 points on 6-of-15 shooting. He added nine rebounds, one of three players to reach the game-high total. Flory Bidunga added 12 points for the Jayhawks.
Former Jayhawk Ejiofor matched Hopkins’ team-high with 18 points and matched the game-high with nine rebounds.
Ejiofor delivered some crucial plays in the final five minutes, including scoring off of an offensive rebound and taking a steal from Peterson the other way for a bucket on the very next possession.
With Sunday’s victory, St. John’s reached 30 wins in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons.
“For me, being a kid from New York, a kid from the Bronx, it’s special…to see what coach (Pitino) has built,” said Red Storm guard Ian Jackson.
–Kyle Kensing, Field Level Media
