Darling’s layup seals St. John’s tournament win over Kansas
SAN DIEGO — Dylan Darling hit a layup as time expired for his only bucket of the game, and St. John’s advanced to its first Sweet 16 since 1999 with a 67-65 victory over Kansas in the men’s NCAA tournament on Sunday.
Darling, the tenacious point guard for the Johnnies, won it coolly after Kansas (24-11) erased a 58-45 deficit with 7½ minutes left, going on a furious 20-7 run capped by Darryn Peterson’s two free throws to tie the game with 13.1 seconds remaining.
The Jayhawks had four fouls to commit, and they used all four to bring the clock down to 3.9 seconds. That was plenty of time for Darling, the Idaho State transfer who had missed his previous four shots.
Darling drove the lane for a shot that registered as time expired. His teammates confronted him in front of the St. John’s orchestra to celebrate.
Zuby Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins scored 18 points each for the fifth-seeded Red Storm (30-6), who returned to the college basketball spotlight in just three seasons under coach Rick Pitino.
St. John’s advanced to face top-seeded Duke in the East Regional semifinals in Washington.
Pitino, 73, and Bill Self, 63, practiced against each other for only the second time in the Hall of Famers’ decades-long careers, meeting for the first time in March Madness. These are two of three active coaches with multiple national titles, and now Pitino still has a chance to win his third.
With Kansas transfer Ejiofor leading the way, St. John’s has won 21 of its last 22 games since the start of January, capped by the Johnnies’ second and third NCAA Tournament victories in the last quarter-century this weekend.
St. John’s won the Big East regular season and tournament titles during its surge, and the Red Storm didn’t slow down at all.
Peterson scored 21 points and Melvin Council Jr. had 15 points and nine rebounds for the fourth-seeded Jayhawks, who still haven’t returned to the Sweet 16 since winning Self’s second national title in 2022. After Kansas ended Arizona’s undefeated season in a historic win on Feb. 9, the Jayhawks then lost six of their last 11 games.
