Kansas had enough time, enough talent, and enough momentum to escape, but March Madness is often decided by the smallest possible margin, and St. John’s made sure the final one belonged to them.
The Red Storm beat the Jayhawks 67–65 on March 22, 2026, with Dylan Darling driving for a buzzer-beating layup that ended Kansas’ tournament run and sent St. John’s into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.
For much of the game, Kansas was the team trying to catch up rather than control the action.
St. John’s set the tone early with pressure defense and enough scoring balance to keep the Jayhawks uncomfortable, and that edge showed up in the second half when the Red Storm pushed their lead as high as 14 points.
Kansas never looked fully settled on offense, and the kinds of mistakes that tend to decide close tournament games were already adding up long before the final possession.
What kept Kansas alive was the way it responded after falling behind. Instead of breaking, the Jayhawks slowed the game down, defended with more purpose, and started getting the kind of possessions they had been missing earlier.
Darryn Peterson became the center of that push, scoring 21 points and giving Kansas the steady production it needed to keep the game within reach.
As the clock was ticking down, Kansas had turned what looked like a difficult loss into a real chance to survive.
The biggest turning point came when Peterson hit two free throws with just over 13 seconds remaining to tie the game at 65–65.
That sequence changed the feel of the entire matchup because Kansas had finally erased the deficit and done it under pressure, which meant the final defensive stand was all that remained.
In a tournament game like this, that is usually enough to at least force overtime, especially when the defense manages the final possession properly.
Kansas did manage the final possession properly, which is part of what makes the ending so frustrating. With fouls available, the Jayhawks used them to burn precious seconds and leave St. John’s with very little time to organize anything meaningful.
The strategy worked exactly as intended and reduced the final sequence to a rushed, desperate finish with only a few seconds left on the clock. From a coaching standpoint, Kansas did what it was supposed to do.
Then the game turned on a play that nobody would have predicted from the stat sheet. Dylan Darling had been quiet all night, missing all four of his previous shots and going scoreless until the final possession, but St. John’s still trusted him with the ball.
He took the inbound, attacked the lane immediately, and finished at the rim as time expired. It was his only basket of the game, but it was the one that mattered most, and it instantly changed the tone from Kansas comeback story to St. John’s breakthrough moment.
That kind of finish is exactly why the tournament matters so much. Kansas had already done the hard part by fighting back from a double-digit deficit, and the Jayhawks had even forced the game into the kind of final sequence they wanted.
But one defensive breakdown at the end was enough to wipe away everything that came before it.
In March, teams can play well enough for long stretches and still lose in a way that feels sudden and unfair, and this game was a perfect example of that reality.
The numbers also explain why St. John’s was able to survive. The Red Storm forced 16 turnovers, which disrupted Kansas throughout the game and prevented the Jayhawks from building a comfortable offensive flow.
Bryce Hopkins and Zuby Ejiofor each finished with 18 points, giving St. John’s the kind of balanced scoring that helps in tight tournament games because the offense never becomes too easy to stop. Kansas leaned more heavily on Peterson and a smaller group of contributors, so once the offense stalled, every possession mattered a little more.
For St. John’s, the win carries real weight beyond just advancing in the bracket. The program had not reached the Sweet 16 since 1999, so this was more than a dramatic finish; it was a meaningful step forward for a team that has spent the season building momentum.
The Red Storm have now won 21 of their last 22 games, and that kind of stretch gives a team belief that it can handle both pressure and expectation.
Rick Pitino’s group looked like a team with confidence all night, and the final possession was the clearest proof of it.
For Kansas, the loss lands differently because it was not a blowout or a game where they were simply overmatched. They came back. They tied it. They managed the clock. They put themselves in position to extend the game.
That is why the ending stings so much more than an ordinary defeat, because it leaves behind the feeling that the Jayhawks were close enough to survive but still could not get one final stop when it mattered.
In tournament basketball, that kind of loss stays with a program because it is built out of both effort and helplessness at the same time.
In the end, this was the kind of March Madness game people remember because it had all the right ingredients: a comeback, a tense finish, a final possession, and a buzzer-beater that changed everything in one instant.
Kansas had the fight to get back in it, but St. John’s had the final shot, and that is the only part of the story that survives once the bracket moves on.
