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By Megan Armstrong
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St. John's junior guard Dylan Darling hadn't hit a shot all day.
No. 5 St. John's and No. 4 Kansas were knotted at 65 with 3.9 seconds to play in the second round of the men's NCAA Tournament. Darling took the inbounds pass around halfcourt and darted downhill through the lane to sink a layup just as time expired. Darling had been 0-for-4 before that, but all it took was one to send the St. John's men's basketball program to its first Sweet 16 since 1999.
Darling was a puddle of elation on the court after the game, but Lauren Shehadi managed to ask him what St.John's head coach Rick Pitino said to him during their final timeout.
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"Yelling at me," Darling said. "Yelling at me, per usual. Just telling me to do something. So, it was ugly, but we got it done."
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During his postgame press conference, Pitino described the moment as "the funniest thing I've ever been involved with."
"So, we're gonna run a play, but they've got fouls to give," the Hall of Fame coach said. "Bells [Darling] comes up to me and says, 'Run power,' which is a high back screen pick-and-roll. I walk away and said, 'Wait a second. He hasn't scored a bucket, and he wants to run a play for himself.' I'm thinking as I'm walking, 'But he's Bells.' And not only did he do it, he went with his right hand! So, real proud of him because to want the ball when you haven't made a shot is unbelievable."
Darling said during his postgame presser that "I probably don't deserve this" because he was "pretty bad all night," but he was "just happy to keep this thing rolling" (via FOX Sports).
Darling and the Red Storm, better known as the Johnnies, are about to face their biggest test yet. St. John's plays Duke, the tournament's No. 1 overall seed, at 7:10 p.m. EST on Friday night. The winner will take on either No. 2 UConn or No. 3 Michigan State in the Elite Eight.
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