Dylan Darling, by all accounts, had not been good. Zero points, 0-of-4 shooting, one rebound, two turnovers in just 17½ minutes despite starting, including an ill-advised corner 3 late in a close game that got blocked and got an earful from St. John’s coach Rick Pitino.
“I was pretty bad,” Darling said. “A whole lot of nothing.”
His Hall of Fame coach didn’t disagree: “Hadn’t done a damn good thing the whole night.”
Not for the first 39 minutes, 56.1 seconds, at least.
The left-handed point guard from Spokane Valley, Wash., is the now the darling of New York, driving right on a Kansas defender subbed in for the specific purpose of covering him, getting to the rim, leaning back to avoid a shot blocker, hoisting a right-handed shot that kissed the glass as he fell to the floor and time expired … and dropped.
The buzzer-beater gave the fifth-seeded Red Storm a 67-65 victory against No. 4 Kansas at Viejas Arena on Sunday afternoon in the NCAA Tournament’s second round and transformed a ho-hum game for 33 minutes into one of those iconic moments of madness in March.
“This is the amazing thing, the funniest thing I’ve ever been involved with,” Pitino said. “We’re going to run a play, … and (Darling) come up to me and says, ‘Run power,’ which is a high, back screen, pick-and-roll. So I walk away and I say, ‘Wait a second. He hasn’t scored a bucket and he wants to run a play for himself?’”
The Red Storm had led by as many as 14 and still were up 13 inside of seven minutes to go, thanks to making 11 3-pointers on a season-high 35 attempts. But then they started playing not to lose, and the Jayhawks and all-everything guard Darryn Peterson finally looked like they were interested in extending their season.
A pair of free throws by Peterson (21 points) tied it with 13.1 seconds left, but the equally important stat was this: two Jayhawks team fouls.
They had four to give, and they gave them until they reached six — one shy of the bonus — with 3.9 seconds left and the ball on the far sideline.
“We left them too much time,” Kansas coach Bill Self said of the strategy, wishing his team had waited longer between fouls.
Self also subbed in Elmarko Jackson for Kohl Rosario to guard Darling.
“We tried to get our best defensive team in there,” Self said. “Obviously, it wasn’t a very good effort by us in the last 3.9 (seconds). We had to guard four bounces, and we didn’t guard four bounces. Yeah, that was really disappointing.”
Pitino initially had called another play, but Darling reasoned there wasn’t enough time and asked for Zuby Ejiofor to set a flat ball screen at the top, with the option of finding the 6-foot-9 forward on the roll or shooters in the corners. The 6-1 Darling did none of the above, rejecting the screen and driving hard to his right.
“I saw the lane, and I just went for it,” 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.”
Darling, who played two years at Washington State and was Big Sky Player of the Year at Idaho State before transferring to St. John’s, was asked if this was his first career buzzer-beater.
Darling: “This is my first one in college.”
Pitino: “When did you do it, the NBA?”
Darling: “I played in high school and middle school, Coach. I didn’t just start playing ball.”
As his teammates piled on him in the far corner, Pitino’s thoughts turned to the sweetness of being on this side of one shining moment. Thirty-four years ago, he was coaching Kentucky when Duke’s Christian Laettner hit maybe the most famous buzzer-beater in tournament history — something he’s reminded of seemingly every time he flips on the TV and sees the commercial.
In recent weeks, Pitino wanted something to watch to keep his mind off basketball, and his staff suggested the Hulu series “Paradise.”
And there, in the first episode, is a reference to Laettner’s shot.
“I said, ‘That’s cruel,’” said Pitino, whose team faces top-seeded Duke on Friday in Washington, D.C. “I’ve been on winning at the buzzer and losing at the buzzer. You win some, you lose some. And I’m hoping we can get Duke at the buzzer next to make up for that Christian Laettner shot.”
For the Jayhawks, it’s the fourth straight year they have failed to advance to the tournament’s second weekend — a certifiable drought for a program of their pedigree.
There are also swirling questions about Self’s future given heart issues that surfaced again in January and prevented him from making a conference road trip.
“No, I haven’t decided,” Self said. “I’ll get back and visit with family. I’ve had, obviously, some issues off the court health-wise. And that will be discussed. But I love what I do. I want to feel good while I’m doing it, though.”