St John’s head coach Rick Pitino is desperate for a buzzer-beater win over Duke as revenge for Christian Laettner’s 1992 shot against his Kentucky.
On Sunday, St. John’s stunned Kansas with a 78-76 victory to reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999. Dylan Darling scored a dramatic buzzer-beater with an off-hand layup after an isolation drive to the bucket to clinch the win.
Darling, a senior transfer averaging 7.0 points a game, hadn’t scored in 18 minutes before receiving the ball with 3.9 seconds left in a tie game. He received the ball in the backcourt but raced downhill against one-on-one defense, converting a layup as time expired — a March Madness shot to remember to cap off a special opening weekend of close finishes…