St. John’s Dylan Darling lives up to ‘Church Bells’ nickname with heroic buzzer-beater to down Kansas

Mar 22, 2026; San Diego, CA, USA; St. John’s Red Storm guard Dylan Darling (0) shoots the game-winning shot against the Kansas Jayhawks in the second half during a second round game of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Viejas Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Hemingway’s great work may need some tweaking because the bell now tolls for Dylan Darling. 

The junior guard has hit one of the most famous shots in St. John’s history, as his driving layup at the buzzer lifted the No. 5 Red Storm over No. 4 Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999. 

And to think, he did not even see it happen.

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

He was certainly due for that moment. He had not hit a shot all night, but after Kansas tied the game up at 65 apiece with free throws — and then decided to foul St. John’s until there were four seconds left on the clock — Darling implored that head coach Rick Pitino call his number. 

“Bells comes up to me and says, ‘Run power,’ which is a high, back-screen pick-and-roll. 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?’” Pitino recounted. “But he’s Bells, and not only did he do it, he went with his right hand.”

Pitino penned that “Bells” nickname for Darling on Feb. 7 after he hit a game-winning three-pointer to defeat Xavier on the road in Cincinnati, telling reporters postgame that “he’s got balls as big as church bells.”

“Honestly, there really wasn’t time for nothing else,” Darling said. “The ball was at half-court, I think Oziyah [Sellers] and Joson [Sanon] were in. I told them to go to the corners. And the play is just Zuby [Ejiofor] sets a lat ball screen at the top of the 3-point line. I figured if somebody helped off the corners, I would throw it to the corner. Or if they heped off Zuby, I’d throw it to Zuby. I ended up going right, I saw the lane, and I just went for it.”

“Real proud of him because to want the ball when you haven’t made a shot is unbelievable,” Pitino added. “… I’m so happy for St. John’s and the fans. We had great fans out here.”

The cards are certainly stacked against the Johnnies at this NCAA Tournament. Despite being in the East Region as the No. 5 seed, which is surprising in itself given that they were Big East regular-season and tournament champions who finished the season by going 19-1, they had to play their first two games out in San Diego. 

Now they travel to Washington, D.C. for the Sweet 16 against the region’s No. 1 seed, Duke. 

“I’m so jubilant, so happy for the fellas,” Pitino said. “We’ve taken another step now. So it’s just awesome… It’s just starting, the fun is just starting.”

For more on Dylan Darling and St. John’s, visit AMNY.com