March Madness: St. John's beats Kansas, reaches Sweet 16 on Dylan Darling's layup at buzzer
Dylan Darling of the St. John's Red Storm shoots the ball against Elmarko Jackson and Flory Bidunga of the Kansas Jayhawks during the second half of an NCAA Tournament second-round game on Sunday in San Diego. Credit: Getty Images/Sean M. Haffey
SAN DIEGO — The shortest player in the St. John’s rotation made the program’s biggest shot in 27 years on Sunday.
When St. John’s inbounded near midcourt with 3.9 seconds left in regulation and the score tied, Dylan Darling hadn’t scored a point for the fifth-seeded Red Storm in their NCAA Tournament East Regional second-round game against fourth-seeded Kansas.
The 6-1 lefthanded point guard then drove for a righthanded layup as time expired to give St. John’s a 67-65 victory at Viejas Arena and put the Red Storm in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.
After the ball fell through the net, Darling strode toward the section of Red Storm fans across from their bench and exhorted the cheering throng before being swallowed by his celebrating teammates along the baseline.
DYLAN DARLING GAME WINNER OMG 🚨
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 22, 2026
ST. JOHN'S ADVANCES TO THE SWEET 16 🤯 pic.twitter.com/cgtCSgKHe5
“I was pretty much garbage all night,” said Darling, who had four assists but had missed all four of his shots — all three-pointers — to that point. “I never really envisioned that happening. [I’m] just happy my guys trust me in situations like that.”
St. John’s went ahead 56-42 on Ruben Prey’s hook shot with 8:08 remaining and took a 62-53 lead on a layup by Zuby Ejiofor with 4:19 to play, but Kansas tied the score on a pair of free throws by Darryn Peterson with 14.1 seconds left.
Kansas had fouls to give and used three to try to burn off the remainder of the time on the clock and get to overtime, but Darling delivered.
Red Storm coach Rick Pitino has won 57 NCAA Tournament games in 25 appearances and has taken three programs to seven Final Fours and won two national title games. He said that with all that postseason success, “this was the final [accomplishment] for me, to get St. John’s to the next level. And we’re not done yet. We still have a lot in our tank.”
St. John’s (30-6), playing in the Sweet 16 for the 10th time, will meet overall No. 1 seed Duke in a regional semifinal on Friday in Washington at Capital One Arena.
Pitino was reminded after the game that he has been on the losing end of some March Madness buzzer-beaters, most notably in 1992, when Duke’s Christian Laettner made one against Pitino’s Kentucky team that has lived on in commercials and highlight reels ever since.
“You win some, you lose some,” said Pitino, who became the fifth coach to have 10 teams win 30 games. “I’m hoping we can get Duke at the buzzer next to make up for that Christian Laettner shot.”
Ejiofor, playing against the Kansas program he left after one season to transfer to St. John’s, had 18 points and nine rebounds and Bryce Hopkins scored 18 points on a career-high six three-pointers to lead the Red Storm, who have won 21 of their last 22 games.
“It was a truly special moment,” Ejiofor said of the game-winning shot and mob scene.
Of helping St. John’s reach a height it hadn’t in nearly three decades, he added, “I feel great about that, but man, we still have a lot more goals ahead of us. But for the program, this is a great step.”
Ian Jackson, the Bronx product who came home after one season at North Carolina, scored 10 points in 20 minutes off the bench, including a pair of key three-pointers.
“For me, it’s special,” he said of taking St. John’s to the Sweet 16. “Me being a kid from New York, a kid from the Bronx, seeing St. John’s [while] growing up not really be the most sought-after school, and to see what we’re doing this year and the history we’re making and do something special with this group of guys [and] this coach, it’s truly special to me.”
Dillon Mitchell added eight points and nine rebounds and played 35 minutes of tough defense as St. John’s had Kansas struggling to inbound the ball all game.
Peterson had 21 points and Melvin Council Jr. added 15 points for Kansas (24-11).
St. John’s hasn’t been a consistent three-point shooting team this season, but it shot 11-for-35 for its second straight game with double-digit threes.
“We needed it because when you’re not in sync offensively because of their size and they wouldn’t let us have a good look [inside], your only salvation is to make threes,” Pitino said. “They weren’t going to play us from the three-point line with movement.”
Hopkins transferred from Providence before this season after missing almost a season and a half after knee surgery, and he has been gaining top form in this stretch run. But he’d never made more than three three-pointers in a game.
“I’m extremely blessed to be back out here playing basketball,” Hopkins said. “I said I wanted to come here to play meaningful basketball and have a chance to make a deep run in March. And we’re definitely doing it. We got to the Sweet 16. We have more work we want to do and more to accomplish.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
