{"id":173051,"date":"2026-03-24T07:45:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T07:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/173051\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T07:45:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T07:45:22","slug":"ian-jackson-delivers-performance-st-johns-needed-in-march-madness-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/173051\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian Jackson delivers performance St. John’s needed in March Madness win"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN DIEGO \u2014 Zuby Ejiofor gave Ian Jackson a pep talk Friday.<\/p>\n

Before tipoff Sunday, Rick Pitino was in the sophomore\u2019s ear.<\/p>\n

Both delivered the same message: We need you.<\/p>\n

Jackson was listening.<\/p>\n

The Bronx native came up big in a 67-65, second-round victory over No. 4 Kansas<\/a> that sent the fifth-seeded Johnnies to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.<\/p>\n

Jackson scored 10 big points in 20 minutes off the bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s special,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cMe being a kid from New York, a kid from The Bronx, seeing St. John\u2019s growing up not really being the most sought-after school, to see what Coach P has built, what we\u2019re doing this year and the history we\u2019re making, to be able to come home and do something special with this group of guys, with this coach, it\u2019s truly special to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"St.Ian Jackson defends Darryn Peterson during St. John\u2019s win over Kansas on March 22. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n

Jackson also defended well, spending time guarding Kansas star Darryn Peterson, the potential No. 1 NBA draft pick who shot 5-for-15 from the field. <\/p>\n

He was a difference-maker against the Jayhawks.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have an impact or a role in this win is huge,\u201d said Jackson, a transfer from North Carolina. \u201cMy teammates believe in me, Coach believes in me to go out there and perform and help us win.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. John\u2019s was on the wrong end of two missed calls.<\/p>\n

CHECK OUT THE LATEST BIG EAST STANDINGS<\/a> AND ST. JOHN\u2019S STATS<\/a><\/p>\n

In the first half, Ejiofor was fouled while attempting a shot. Kansas big man Flory Bidunga blocked the attempt clearly on the way down, but the officials ruled it a block.<\/p>\n

Then, with just over a minute left in the second half and the Johnnies up by four, Kansas guard Kohl Rosario saved a missed shot from going out of bounds. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYour weekly dispatch from the No. 1 source on the Johnnies\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside St. John’s by Zach Braziller, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

But he failed to reestablish position on the court<\/a>. <\/p>\n

He was able to tip the ball to Tre White, who scored inside with 1:01 to go to make it a two-point game.<\/p>\n

That basket shouldn\u2019t have counted.<\/p>\n

St. John\u2019s has now won 30 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1984-85 and 1985-86. \u2026 The Johnnies have hit 21 3-pointers in two NCAA Tournament games. It is their most in back-to-back games this season. \u2026 Pitino became the fifth Division I coach to win 30 games 10 different times. The others are Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams (12), John Calipari (11) and Bill Self (11).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO \u2014 Zuby Ejiofor gave Ian Jackson a pep talk Friday. Before tipoff Sunday, Rick Pitino was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,3361,30244,63551,68679,63552,9,24,63,319,3363,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-173051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-college-basketball","tag-ian-jackson","tag-march-madness","tag-march-madness-2026","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-sports","tag-st-johns-red-storm","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}