There have been many memorable moments in the history of St. John’s basketball. Now the proud program from New York City has a shining moment that actually took place this millennium.
The freshly christened legend who took his place in the Red Storm storybook couldn’t have been further removed from the Big Apple or NCAA Tournament folklore one year ago.
Guard Dylan Darling, the Player of the Year in the Big Sky Conference at Idaho State last season, used the final 3.9 seconds Sunday to race past the Kansas defense for a slashing, buzzer-beating layup that gave St. John’s a 67-65 victory and sent the Red Storm (30-6) to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.
Darling is the only player in NCAA Tournament history to score his first points of the game on a buzzer-beater.
The play is called “power.” Pitino described it as a high back-screen pick-and-roll.
“The play Coach was trying to run, there wasn’t time for it,” Darling said. “I threw the suggestion out and I don’t think Coach really had a choice at that point in time.
“I probably don’t deserve this. I was pretty bad all night long, but my teammates held it down.”
Kansas (24-11) overcame a 14-point second-half deficit and tied the game on two free throws by All-America freshman Darryn Peterson (21 points) with 13.1 seconds left. The Jayhawks struggled with 16 turnovers but put together a furious 25-9 run to knot the game.
With four fouls to give, Kansas trimmed nearly 10 seconds off the clock before St. John’s took a timeout to set up the winning play. Darling took the inbound pass in the backcourt and drove in a straight line to the basket. He beat 6-foot-3 sophomore Elmarko Jackson, who had just entered the game for defensive purposes.
“I’m real proud of him because to want the ball when you haven’t made a shot is unbelievable,” Pitino said of Darling. “I’m so jubilant. So happy for the fellas. We’ve taken another step now.”
Darling played two seasons at Washington State before playing one season at Idaho State. He entered the transfer portal last spring and also attracted attention from Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee and Florida. He said Pitino’s ability to develop pros appealed to him and he became the sixth member of the St. John’s recruiting class.
“This is my first (buzzer-beater) in college,” Darling said. “To be honest, the ball left my hands and I hit the ground and I didn’t even see the ball go in. I just heard everybody going crazy. It was pretty cool, though.”
Big East Player of the Year Zuby Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins scored 18 each for St. John’s. Ejiofor and Dillon Mitchell each had nine rebounds, and Ian Jackson finished with 10 critical points.
Hopkins was 6-of-9 from 3-point range and St. John’s was 11-for-35 from beyond the arc. It was the most 3-point attempts by the Red Storm this season.
“I was imploring my guys the entire game: ‘This is going to sound strange, but I said you have to keep shooting the 3,’” Pitino said.
St. John’s used a 9-2 run to close the first half and take a 34-26 halftime lead. Kansas had cut it to 25-24 on two free throws by Peterson with 2:25 left. But a 3-pointer by Ruben Prey was followed by the Jayhawks committing their eighth turnover of the half.
Kansas coach Bill Self had emphasized repeatedly that nothing would come easy against the St. John’s defense.
“One of the things that makes it so great is that it can be great, but it can also be cruel.” Self said “ We obviously put ourselves in a position to play from behind the whole game, and then really competed and played great down the stretch and just didn’t finish what we had started down the stretch.”
Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Flory Bidunga (12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks) was key to the Jayhawks’ defense against Ejiofor. But he was called for two fouls in a seven-second span and went to the bench with 14:38 left in the first half. Self replaced him with freshman Paul Mbiya (four points, six rebounds) who had given Kansas valuable time in recent games.
In the end, though, the moment belonged to the guy who couldn’t hit a shot until the game was on the line.
“He’s got to stop aiming the ball on his jump shot,” Pitino said. “He’s aiming it now. He was doing that at the beginning of the year, instead of taking a 1-2 step and releasing it. We’ll work on that. We’ve got a few days to work on that.”
MORE ST. JOHN'S
For St. John’s Zuby Ejiofor, a Win Will Show Kansas What It Lost
The Red Storm big man, recently named Big East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, started his college career at Kansas under coach Bill Self
How Dylan “Big Bells” Darling Emerged as the March Madness X-Factor for St. John’s
The Idaho State transfer, who has taken over as Rick Pitino’s starting point guard, is built for the big moments
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