St. John’s beats Kansas on buzzer-beater, advances to Sweet 16
By Rolando Rosa
Published:
Dylan Darling made a buzzer-beating layup to lift No. 5 seed St. John’s to a 67-65 victory vs. No. 4 seed Kansas in the Round of 32 on Sunday.
Thanks to Darling’s heroics, St. John’s is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999 and will take on No. 1 seed Duke. The game-winning score was Darling’s only points in his 18 minutes.
Zuby Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins each had a team-high 18 points for St.John’s. St. John’s is moving on despite subpar shooting across the board. St. John’s went 36 percent overall, while also shooting 31 percent from the 3-point line and 55 percent on free throws.
However, St. John’s scored 18 points off Kansas’ 16 turnovers while only committing eight themselves.
It’s a remarkable revival for the once-proud program since Rick Pitino took the reigns in 2023. Prior to the Basketball Hall of Fame coach’s arrival, St. John’s hadn’t reached the first round of the NCAA Tournament since 2015. Mike Jarvis was the last St. John’s coach to guide the program to this stage in the NCAA Tournament.
St. John’s vs. Duke is slated for March 27 from Capital One Arena in Washington D.C., with the time to be determined. Duke defeated TCU 81-58 in the Round of 32.
