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Archives for March 22, 2026

Oh Darling! It’s Sweet 16 for Johnnies

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SAN DIEGO – (Staff and Wire Report) – Oh! Darling! Please believe me.

St, John’s is leaving Southern California with a victory and are heading to the District to face Duke in the East Regional semifinals. Red blood out for blue blood.

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The winner of that game faces either Michigan State or UConn/UCLA.

Johnnies’ point guard Dylan Darling’s first points of East Region No. 5 seed St. John’s 67-65, second-round NCAA Tournament win over fourth-seeded Kansas on Sunday came as the buzzer sounded, sending the Red Storm to their first Sweet 16 since 1999.

St. John’s (30-6) never trailed in the second half and led by as many as 14 points before the Jayhawks (24-11), behind Darryn Peterson’s 21-point effort, rallied to force a 65-65 tie.

Peterson sank a pair of free throws with 13 seconds remaining and Kansas — having been called for only two personal fouls in the second half — disrupted the Red Storm’s attempts to run a final play with intentional whistles.

But after exhausting its fourth straight foul near midcourt and with less than four seconds remaining, the Jayhawks defense broke down as Darling attacked the middle of the floor of the inbounds pass.

Zero-for-four from the floor before the buzzer-beating layup, Darling dribbled through a seam and laid the decisive basket off the glass to thunderous cheers from the St, John’s crowd at Viejas Arena.

Both offenses struggled to establish much rhythm throughout Sunday’s contest, with St. John’s scoring 14.5 points fewer than its season-long average of 81.5 per game, and Kansas finishing with 10.4 points fewer than its output.

The Red Storm shot just 25 of 69 (36.2%) from the floor, while the Jayhawks went 24 of 54 (44.4%). One difference for St. John’s was its 3-point shooting — specifically, Bryce Hopkins’ 3-point shooting.

Hopkins scored a team-high 18 points, all on 6-of-9 shooting from long range. The rest of the Red Storm went 5 of 26 from deep.

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Peterson shot 3 of 8 from beyond the arc for Kansas, but the rest of the Kansas lineup combined for just two triples.

Former Jayhawk Zuby Ejiofor matched Hopkins’ team-high with 18 points and matched the game-high with nine rebounds. Ejiofor delivered some crucial plays in the final five minutes, including scoring off of an offensive rebound and taking a steal from Peterson the other way for a bucket on the very next possession.

With Sunday’s victory, St. John’s reached 30 wins in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons.

–Field Level Media

Fitz Turns Disappointment to Cash

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

PALM HARBOR – Matt Fitzpatrick (1st/-11) birdied the 72nd hole to win by one stroke for his third PGA TOUR title in his 183rd start at 31 years, 6 months, 21 days. Before the final round, Fitz had never birdied the 18th hole at this event in 11 previous rounds.

He now has three PGA TOUR wins: The 2022 U.S. Open, 2023 RBC Heritage, 2026 Valspar Championship.

Fitzpatrick won 500 FedExCup points to move from No. 8 to No. 3 in the FedEx Cup standings.

He was the only player to shoot four rounds in the 60s this week and he carded only four bogeys for the week, the fewest of any player in the field. Included with that fact was another amazing feat: He was bogey-free for his last 36 holes to become the third winner of this event to record a bogey-free final round (2012 Luke Donald, 2013 Kevin Streelman).

Fitzpatrick finished runner-up at last week’s PLAYERS Championship, bogeying the final hole to lose to Cameron Young by one stroke. The last player to finish runner-up then win the following week was Davis Thompson (2024 Rocket Classic/T2, 2024 John Deere Classic/Won).

Fitzpatrick joined Luke Donald (2012) and Paul Casey (2018, 2019) as players from England to win the Valspar Championship, and Fitz was the 11th international player to win this event.

Valspar Championship | Final Leaderboard

1 Matt Fitzpatrick 68 69 68 68 273 (-11)

2 David Lipsky 69 65 70 70 274 (-10)

3 Jordan Smith 69 68 72 66 275 (-9)

T4 Three players 276 (-8)

Final Leaderboard: (link)

Tale of Two Coaches?

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SAN DIEGO – (Wire Service Preview) – Only three active head coaches in Division I college basketball have won multiple national championships. Two of them meet for a berth in the Sweet 16 when Bill Self’s No. 4 Kansas Jayhawks face Rick Pitino’s No. 5 St. John’s Red Storm on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament East Region.

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Self, winner of the 2008 and 2022 national championships at Kansas, praised Pitino’s continued success over multiple eras. Pitino is 30 years removed from winning his first title with Kentucky in 1996 and won another at Louisville in 2013, although the latter has been officially vacated by the NCAA.

“To me, the coaches (who) are so impressive are (those who) coached without a 3-point line, then became efficient with the 3-point line. Coached without a shot clock, then became one of the best with the shot clock – always evolving with the game,” Self said. “And (Pitino) has done that as well as anybody maybe ever.”

Pitino began his full-time head-coaching career in 1978 at Boston University, seven years before the introduction of the shot clock and eight before the 3-point line was introduced across college basketball.

His longevity puts Pitino in the unique position to guide his fourth different program, along with Providence, Kentucky and Louisville, to the Sweet 16. It would be the first such appearance since 1999 for St. John’s (29-6).

The Red Storm advanced to the second round with a 79-53 rout of No. 12 Northern Iowa on Friday, St. John’s seventh straight win overall and fourth in a row by 10-plus points.

The veteran trio of Oziyah Sellers, Bryce Hopkins and Kansas transfer Zuby Ejiofor have paced St. John’s, combining to average 40.5 of St. John’s 81.6 points per game. Ejiofor, the Big East Conference Player of the Year, posted a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double in Friday’s win.

Kansas (24-10), meanwhile, weathered a furious second-half comeback on Friday to advance past No. 13 Cal Baptist behind standout freshman Darryn Peterson’s 28 points.

The Jayhawks led by as many as 26 points before Cal Baptist cut the deficit to six points with 1:20 left in the 68-60 Kansas win.

Pitino offered effusive praise of Peterson, a potential No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s NBA draft. The 6-foot-6 guard is averaging 20.1 points per game despite battling a variety of injury issues throughout the season.

“He’s got great size,” Pitino said of Peterson. “He’s got a beautiful-looking jump shot. …He’s going to be a great NBA player because he has an NBA game.”

Peterson’s presence on the Kansas roster reflects one of the many positives Pitino touted when analyzing his counterpart in Self. Pitino called the Kansas coach a “great evaluator of talent” on top of being a multidimensional tactician.

“He’s a great offensive coach and he’s a great defensive coach,” Pitino said. “He’s such a well-rounded guy. His teams do everything well.”

The Jayhawks come into the second round with a balanced resume but with especially impressive defensive credentials. They have held opponents to 44.5% shooting on 2-point field-goal attempts and only 30.5% from beyond the arc, both top 25 nationally.

Big men Flory Bidunga and Bryson Tiller both rank in the top 150 nationally in block percentage, per KenPom.com.

They will clash with a stout St. John’s frontcourt led by Ejiofor, whose 16.3 points per game come on 55% shooting from the floor.

–Field Level Media

March Madness: Tournament Round-up

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OKLAHOMA CITY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Braden Frager drove for the winning layup with 2.2 seconds left Saturday night and fourth-seeded Nebraska rallied for a 74-72 win over fifth-seeded Vanderbilt in the second round of the NCAA Tournament’s South Region.

The result wasn’t secured until the Commodores’ Tyler Tanner, who scored a game-high 27 points, barely missed a 3-point shot from beyond halfcourt as time expired. Tanner’s heave hit the glass and bounced out after hitting both the front and back rim, causing a gasp and then a wild ovation from the pro-Cornhusker crowd inside Paycom Center.

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Frager and Pryce Sandfort each scored 15 points for Nebraska (28-6), which will play either top-seeded Florida or No. 9 Iowa Thursday in Houston in its first Sweet 16 appearance in program history. The Gators and Hawkeyes match up on Sunday night in Tampa.

Tyler Nickel added 16 points for Vanderbilt (27-9), which rallied in the second half by canning 10 of 22 3-pointers. Tanner’s layup gave the Commodores a 72-70 edge with 58 seconds remaining but Mast equalized with 37 seconds on the clock by tipping home Sam Hoiberg’s missed layup.

No. 2 Houston 88, No. 10 Texas A&M 57

Emanuel Sharp scored 18 points and the Cougars delivered an 18-0 knockout punch in the first half to sail into the Sweet 16 with a win over the Aggies in Oklahoma City.

Chris Cenac Jr. registered 17 points and nine rebounds and Milos Uzan added 15 points for the Cougars (30-6), who will face third-seeded Illinois in next week’s Sweet 16 in Houston. Mercy Miller added 12 points as the Cougars notched their fifth consecutive 30-win campaign and reached the Sweet 16 for the seventh straight season.

Josh Holloway was the only scorer in double figures for the Aggies (22-12) with 12 points off the bench. Leading scorer Rashaun Agee was limited to seven points. The Cougars connected on 44.1% of their field-goal attempts and held a commanding 46-29 rebounding edge, grabbing 19 on the offensive glass.

No. 3 Illinois 76, No. 11 VCU 55

Andrej Stojakovic scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half to help the Fighting Illini breeze past the Rams in Greenville, S.C.

Tomislav Ivisic added 14 points and 11 rebounds for Illinois (26-8), which advanced to its second Sweet 16 in 21 years. It will face No. 2 Houston on Thursday in Houston. Keaton Wagler scored 14 and Kylan Boswell finished with 12 for the Fighting Illini, who won their first two NCAA Tournament games by a combined 56 points.

Terrence Hill Jr. led VCU (28-8) with 17 points and seven boards, while Barry Evans and Tyrell Ward had 11 apiece. The Rams shot just 7-for-32 (21.9%) on 3-point attempts in the lopsided loss.

WEST REGION

No. 11 Texas 74, No. 3 Gonzaga 68

Matas Vokietaitis and Jordan Pope scored 17 points apiece and Camden Heide hit a key 3-pointer with 14.7 seconds left to lift the Longhorns past the Bulldogs in Portland, Ore.

With the Longhorns leading by one after a dunk by the Bulldogs’ Graham Ike, Texas called a timeout with 32 seconds left and inserted Heide, whose 3-pointer from the right corner pushed the lead to 72-68. Mario Saint-Supery missed a desperation Gonzaga 3-pointer for Gonzaga (31-4) and Vokietaitis hit a layup to close the scoring for Texas (21-14), the first First Four winner to win at least three games in the tournament since 11th-seeded UCLA won five straight to reach the 2021 Final Four.

West Coast Conference Player of the Year Ike had 25 points and Jalen Warley had 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Gonzaga.

No. 4 Arkansas 94, No. 12 High Point 88

Darius Acuff Jr. had 36 points, Meleek Thomas added 19, and the Razorbacks burst the Panthers’ tournament bubble, pulling away late for the victory in Portland, Ore.

Acuff scored nine of the Razorbacks’ last 11 points as they broke from a tie at 83-83 in the final three minutes to overcome a 30-point performance from High Point guard Rob Martin. Billy Richmond III had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Malique Ewin had 14 points and 12 boards for the Razorbacks (28-8), who have won seven in a row and nine of 10. Ewin’s two free throws with 44.4 seconds made it 92-85.

Cam’Ron Fletcher had 25 points and was two rebounds short of a third straight double-double and Terry Anderson had 15 points for High Point (31-5), which had a 15-game winning streak broken after posting the first NCAA Tournament win in school history Thursday.

EAST REGION

No. 1 Duke 81, No. 9 TCU 58

Cameron Boozer scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the second half to help lead the Blue Devils past the Horned Frogs in Greenville, S.C.

Isaiah Evans added 17 points and Dame Sarr scored 14 for Duke (34-2), which advanced to the Sweet 16 against the winner of No. 4 Kansas and No. 5 St. John’s. Boozer added a game-high 11 rebounds while Maliq Brown finished with 12 points and nine rebounds for the Blue Devils, who outscored TCU by 19 points in the second half.

Micah Robinson led TCU (23-12) with 18 points, followed by Xavier Edmonds’ 12. The Horned Frogs were outrebounded 42-25 for the game, but 24-14 during the second half.

No. 3 Michigan State 77, No. 6 Louisville 69

Coen Carr had 21 points and 10 rebounds, Jeremy Fears Jr. scored 12 points with 16 assists and the Spartans locked down the Cardinals to advance to the Sweet 16 for the 17th time under Tom Izzo.

Fears set a Michigan State NCAA Tournament assists record and Carr helped carry the offense for the Spartans (27-7) and fell one point shy of his career high. The Spartans head to the East Region semifinal in Washington, D.C., where their first game in the Sweet 16 will be the winner of seventh-seeded UCLA and No. 2 seed UConn

Louisville leading scorer Ryan Conwell played through a left foot injury in the second half and did not appear to have his typical spring. Conwell had 21 points and made 5 of 11 attempts from 3-point range for the Cardinals (24-11).

MIDWEST

No. 1 Michigan 95, Saint Louis 72

Yaxel Lendeborg scored 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting, and the Wolverines pulled away for a win over the Billikens at Buffalo, N.Y.

Morez Johnson Jr. added 15 points and eight rebounds for Michigan (33-3), which advanced to the Sweet 16 to face either Texas Tech or Alabama. Aday Mara finished with 16 points, and Elliot Cadeau scored 12 points to go along with a team-high eight assists.

Amari McCottry scored 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting to lead Saint Louis (29-6). Dion Brown finished with 13 points, and Robbie Avila contributed nine points.

–Field Level Media