Dylan Darling hadn’t scored a point all night.
What was once a 14-point second-half St. John’s lead had quickly turned into a tied game, and Kansas was one stop away from forcing overtime in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
That’s when Darling urged his head coach to run “Power,” a high pick-and-roll that would, in theory, give the fearless Red Storm point guard a lane to the basket.
“I walk away and I said, ‘Wait a second,’” Rick Pitino recalled afterward. “‘He hasn’t scored a bucket, and he wants to run a play for himself.’”
It’s a call that will live on forever in St. John’s lore.
Darling’s buzzer-beating lay-up led fifth-seeded St. John’s to a 67-65 win over the fourth-seeded Jayhawks on Sunday at San Diego’s Viejas Arena.
The instant-classic victory sent St. John’s (30-6) back to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999. It will play Duke, the top overall seed in the tournament, on Friday in Washington, D.C.
“Proud of our guys, and now it’s just starting,” Pitino said. “The fun is just starting.”
St. John’s led, 56-42, with less than eight minutes remaining in Sunday’s game, but talent-laden Kansas responded with a furious 23-9 run.
Freshman phenom Darryn Peterson — the potential No. 1 pick in this year’s historically deep NBA Draft — tied the game at 65-65 by sinking a pair of free throws with 14.1 seconds left.
The Jayhawks had four fouls to give, and they used them all, burning more than 10 seconds before St. John’s could take a shot.
With 3.9 seconds left in regulation, Darling received the inbound pass in the backcourt, surged to his right and beat Kansas’ Elmarko Jackson to the basket.
“The ball left my hands, and I hit the ground,” Darling said. “I didn’t even see the ball go in. I just heard everybody going crazy. And everybody was jumping around. It was pretty cool.”
Darling had been held scoreless up until that point, going 0-for-4, all from 3-point range. Over the previous four games, Darling had made just seven of 32 field-goal attempts, or 21.8%.
But Darling earned a reputation this season for his late-game heroics, with Pitino in January famously comparing the 6-1 junior’s manhood to “church bells.”
“I probably don’t deserve this,” Darling said after Sunday’s game-winner. “I was pretty bad all night long, but my teammates held it down tonight. Everybody stepped up … and [I am] just happy to keep this thing rolling.”
Entering Sunday’s marquee matchup, much of the attention centered on St. John’s star Zuby Ejiofor, who spent his freshman season at Kansas as a little-used reserve. Ejiofor transferred to St. John’s as a sophomore in 2023 after Kansas landed touted big man Hunter Dickinson in the transfer portal.
Facing Kansas for the first time since, Ejiofor tied for the team lead with 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting and nine rebounds.
But in an effort to combat Kansas’ size — namely, the towering tandem of 6-9 Flory Bidunga and 6-11 Bryson Tiller — St. John’s made 3-point shooting its focus Sunday.
St. John’s shot 11-of-35 (31.4%) on 3-pointers, nearly doubling its season average of 21.0 attempts from deep per game. Seven of those made 3s came in the first half, after which St. John’s led, 34-26.
Bryce Hopkins scored 18 points and finished 6-of-9 on 3-pointers, making one more than the Jayhawks, who shot 5-of-14 from behind the arc as a team.
“We were going to take away the 3-point shot tonight,” Pitino said. “We had to win the 3-point shot … because we had a very difficult time getting to the rim because of their rim protection.”
The Red Storm’s pressure was similarly crucial, as they forced 16 turnovers and repeatedly tormented Kansas on inbound passes.
Still, Peterson nearly willed the Jayhawks to victory, scoring seven points in the final six minutes. The 6-6 guard finished with a game-high 21 points, albeit on 5-of-15 shooting, with four rebounds, three assists and four blocks.
“I thought he played well,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said. “I thought he played really hard. The thing about it is, when you guard as well and as hard as what St. John’s does, those shots are hard shots.”
Sunday marked Pitino’s first win over Self. It was only the second-ever meeting between the Hall of Fame coaches, with Kansas previously defeating Pitino-led Iona in 2021.
It was perhaps poetic that Darling’s buzzer beater set up a meeting with Duke, considering Pitino was the Kentucky head coach whom the Blue Devils beat on Christian Laettner’s famed game-winner in the 1992 Elite Eight.
“You win some, you lose some,” Pitino said Sunday. “And I’m hoping we can get Duke at the buzzer next, to make up for that Christian Laettner shot.”
