Sunday’s matinee at Viejas Arena featured a battle between Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inducted coaches, as Rick Pitino’s No. 5 St. John’s squared off against Bill Self’s No. 4 Kansas. 

The scoring began with three-pointers traded on both ends. Red Storm guard Bryce Hopkins and standout Jayhawks freshman guard Darryn Peterson got the scoring started with two each. 

Forward Dillon Mitchell made a read, swarmed the passing lane and picked off a pass by guard Melvin Council Jr. In transition and running freely, Mitchell laid it in for the deuce that gave the Red Storm a 11-6 lead with 15 minutes remaining in the first half. 

Missing the first two, three consecutive St. John’s triples were put up in one possession thanks to a pair of offensive boards. Guard Ian Jackson shot and cashed the third, which led to Self burning his first timeout. 

“It means everything,” Jackson said postgame on the traveling fan support. “For us to go across the country and still have a super big fan base, it shows how big New York is, how big ‘Johnnies Nation’ is and how much they root for us.”

Picking up the offensive board, St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor brought the Viejas Arena ceiling down with a thunderous two-hand slam. 

Left unguarded and extending the lead to four, 7-foot forward Ruben Prey cashed the three. Prey entered the day with 19 attempts from beyond the arc this season. 

Heading into intermission, it was clear how St. John’s lived by the three-ball, cranking 23 threes compared to Kansas’ six in the first half. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks’ dominated the paint, outscoring the Red Storm 14-8 in the first half. 

However, the scoreboard was the Red Storm leading 34-26 at intermission. Ejiofor and Hopkins both provided nine points in the first 20 minutes. Additionally, seven three-pointers were converted. 

“We just wanted to have an inordinate number of threes and win the 3-point battle, win the rebounding battle,” Pitino said. 

For the double-digit lead, Hopkins deposited his fifth three-pointer of the game. The guard ended up making 6-of-9 from the three-point line and finished with 18 points, all from downtown.  

“He passed up three wide-open ones,” Pitino said of Hopkins. “I said, ‘Man, everybody dreams of getting hot like you. You’ve got to take them.’ He finally said, ‘I gotcha, Coach.’ And he did it. And that was a big play for us.” 

Lockdown defense by the Red Storm forced seven Jayhawks turnovers in the second half. Pitino’s defense forced 16 in the 40 minutes of play. 

“I think that’s kudos to our preparation,” Jackson said. “I think we spent a lot of time preparing and understanding what to take away, understanding what teams want to do and how to stop it.”

Cutting the St. John’s lead to five, Peterson shifted into ‘takeover’ mode, attacking the rim and converting an and 1 with just over five minutes remaining to make it 58–53 Red Storm.. 

“I thought he played really hard,” Self said of Peterson’s performance. “When you guard as well and as hard as what St. John’s does, those shots are hard shots. Those are hard plays. I thought he competed hard. I was really proud of his effort.”

Consecutive Kansas scores in second-chance fashion off missed threes by Peterson brought a momentum shift. Freshman guard Rosario Kohl and sophomore big Flory Bidunga boarded and tipped in Peterson’s misses, making it a one-point game, 62-61 St. John’s. 

Hopkins answered with his final three of the game, bolstering the lead to four. 

Then, Peterson drew the tenth Red Storm foul of the evening, going and making two at the line that tied it at 65 all with 13 seconds remaining.

Self imposed his Jayhawks to dish out a series of four fouls to shorten the time on the clock for a potential game-winner by Pitino’s Red Storm. 

The series shaved 10 seconds off the clock, leaving three seconds remaining. 

With the ball set to be inbounded in the Jayhawks’ half,  junior guard Dylan ‘Bells’ Darling had a goose egg in points as he went unsuccessful from four attempts beyond the arc heading into the final seconds. 

“This is the amazing thing, and the funniest thing I’ve ever been involved with,” Pitino said. “Bells comes up to me and says, ‘run power.’ So I walk away and I 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.’” 

Held to zero points until the final seconds, number zero ended up being the hero, punching a Sweet Sixteen ticket for St. John’s. 

“The ball left my hands and I hit the ground, and I didn’t even see the ball go in,” Darling said, describing the moment. “I just heard everybody going crazy. Everybody was jumping around, it was pretty cool though.”

For Pitino, this moment at Viejas Arena transported him back to the humble beginnings of his storied coaching career. 

“It just makes me go down memory lane,” Pitino said. “I remember being so excited playing in front of 150 people in Boston University and going to the NCAA [Tournamnet]. The gym was empty, but we were so excited. They carried me off the court on their shoulders and there was nobody there to cheer but the players.” 

On Friday, St. John’s is set to face off against the team that many have predicted to win the whole thing, the overall No. 1 seed Duke, at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. 

“We get to go to D.C. and I’m so jubilant,” Pitino said. “So happy for the fellas. We’ve taken another step now. Proud of our guys, and now it’s just starting, the fun is just starting.”