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Kansas

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

No. 1 Kansas Tough to Beat

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LAWRENCE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – No. 1 Kansas looks to shake off a disappointing end to the 2023-24 season when its revitalized roster opens the new campaign with a nonconference game against Howard on Monday.

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The Jayhawks are picked to win the sturdy Big 12 Conference, while the Bison are predicted to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

The Jayhawks are one of five Big 12 teams in the preseason AP top 10, joined by No. 4 Houston, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 8 Baylor and No. 10 Arizona.

Howard, which has won the MEAC tournament and the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament each of the past two years, is led by Bryce Harris, the MEAC Preseason Player of the Year, and Marcus Dockery, a All-MEAC preseason second-team selection.

Harris led the Bison with 16.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, from the guard position, last season. Dockery finished third on the team with 13.5 points per game.

The Bison are hoping an early-August trip to Brazil will galvanize this year’s squad.

“This trip is a huge part of our student-athlete experience,” Howard coach Kenneth Blakeney said. “To expose them to another continent and a place that most of our student-athletes have never gone to is exciting for me.

“Our program is about exposure and the opportunity to have our kids spend time in a place that we have heard about and seen pictures of, which is something they will not soon forget.”

The Jayhawks have size, depth and experience, as they return three of their top five scorers from the 23-11 squad that lost to Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season. Kansas dropped five of its final seven games dating back to the regular season.

Hunter Dickinson, named to the AP Preseason All-America team, leads this year’s squad. The senior center was a consensus second-team selection last season, when he finished with 17.9 points and 10.9 rebounds per game.

The two other stars back from last year’s team are KJ Adams Jr. (12.6 points and 4.6 rebounds) and Dajuan Harris (8.5 points, 6.5 assists and 1.5 steals).

The Jayhawks also brought in a solid transfer class, including David Coit (from Northern Illinois), Rylan Griffin (Alabama), Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State), Shakeel Moore (Mississippi State) and AJ Storr (Wisconsin).

“I like them,” Kansas coach Bill Self said of his transfers. “I think they all have a chance to contribute, and you can make a case where they’ve all been one of our better players on any particular day thus far, whether it’s David Coit or Zeke Mayo or AJ or Rylan or Shakeel.”

Kansas’ recruiting class includes two highly touted freshmen, Rakease Passmore and Flory Bidunga.

Finding minutes for a roster full of stars is a perennial job for Self, something he always undersells — and this year is no different.

“I think the question will be coming from a different place — it’s this way with all coaches and all programs,” Self said. “How do they fit in with your present players and how do they fit in playing differently than maybe the way they played at their different place.

“I don’t think we’re quite comfortable yet. I think we have more talent. I think we’re more athletic. I think we shoot it a little bit better. But do they fit exactly the way we’ve won over time? I think that still remains to be seen.”

–Field Level Media