St. John's coach Rick Pitino reveals incredible fact about Dylan Darling's buzzer-beater vs. Kansas

Guard Dylan Darling became a St. John’s Red Storm program icon, if only for a brief period of time, when he delivered a buzzer-beater lay-up to help his team notch a thrilling 67-65 win over the Kansas Jayhawks in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. 

Darling had not scored a single point with 3.9 seconds remaining in the contest, but that fact clearly didn't impact his confidence ahead of the biggest moment, to date, of his St. John's career. 

Dylan Darling called his own number for game-winning play

"This is the amazing thing, and the funniest thing I've ever been involved with," St. John's head coach Rick Pitino explained after the win, per Paolo Uggetti of ESPN. "[Darling] 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."'

Darling had gone 0-4, while the Johnnies had blown a 14-point lead in the game's second half. Nevertheless, he showed no hesitation as he took the ball at midcourt and then drove right to the bucket to send St. John's to a Sweet 16 matchup versus the No. 1 overall-seeded Duke Blue Devils this coming Friday night (7:10 p.m. ET). 

"I just can't imagine a player today, in today's world, with all the scrutiny, wanting the ball when he's shooting terrible," Pitino continued. "It was the only play we could run -- or you could try to throw it into the high post area. But as soon as [Darling] said to me to run power, I knew he could get to the rim because he hadn't done a damn good thing the whole night, so I knew he was going to do it."

Rick Pitino: St. John's still has "a lot in our tank"

Much was said and written last week about whether or not St. John's (No. 5) deserved a higher seed and shouldn't have had to travel out West to San Diego for their first two games of the tournament. As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Johnnies as 6.5-point underdogs against Duke. 

Pitino delivered somewhat of a warning to those who think his team's run will come to an end in Washington, D.C., on Friday. 

"We still have a lot in our tank because we're a very good defensive team," Pitino added. "We win with our defense, and we're learning how valuable the 3-point line is now."