San Diego — Buzzer beaters are as much a part of the game as bouncing the ball or blocking out, but they’ve been incredibly uncommon at this stage in the season for the Kansas Jayhawks under Bill Self.
That, among many other reasons, was why the 4th-seeded Jayhawks struggled so much to accept and make sense of Sunday’s season-ending 67-65 loss to St. John’s at Viejas Arena that ended on a buzzer-beater.
Not since falling to Michigan in overtime back in 2013 has Kansas fallen victim to such a consequential shot during the NCAA Tournament. And even then, Trey Burke’s bomb in the waning seconds of a KU-Michigan Sweet 16 game only forced overtime.
This one — an off-balance layup by SJU guard Dylan Darling who had not scored a single point all day until the game winner — knocked the Jayhawks out of the tournament.
As the shot fell through the net, Kansas coach Bill Self lightly kicked the scorer’s table as he stood near half court while watching his team’s fate. Officials looked at the replay to make sure Darling got the shot off in time, and, as they did, several Jayhawks stood around unsure of what to do, how to react and what to feel.
You could see it on their faces, in their body language and in the crushing disappointment that accompanied them somehow gathering themselves enough to join the handshake line that signaled the official end.
“I didn’t want to join the handshake line, for real,” KU big man Flory Bidunga said in the locker room, less than 30 minutes after the loss. “Obviously, it didn’t end up the way we wanted it, but I feel like we put ourselves in that position to lose as a team.”
At left, Kansas guard Darryn Peterson sits with his emotions before joining the handshake line after watching St. John's knock off the Jayhawks on a buzzer-beating layup (at right) on Sunday afternoon in San Diego. [R1S1 Sports & St. John's Athletics photos]
Freshman Darryn Peterson, who said after the game that he wasn’t sure if this will be his only season as a college player (spoiler alert: it will be), was the last KU player to join the handshake line. And he was doubled-over in pain, no doubt disappointed, staring at the floor before he could make his way over there.
““Uhhh, it’s over,” Peterson said of the thoughts going through his head during that moment. “Maybe I could’ve helped on the play. Can’t get it back, though. And now it’s just over.”
R1S1 Sports asked a few other Jayhawks what was going through their heads during the same moment that Bidunga and Peterson talked about above.
Both point guard Melvin Council Jr. and Bryson Tiller were more stunned than anything, unsure of how to even put one foot in front of the other to get to the handshake line.
“Like, wow,” Council said. “Like, we just lost on a buzzer-beater. That’s really it. “You know, it’s basketball. That’s how I look at it.”
Added Tiller: “Yeah. It was just a shocking moment. You always hope that something like that happens for you, not to you, so, yeah, I was just in shock.”
And then there was reserve guard, Jamari McDowell, who was happy to talk but didn’t quite know what to say.
“I don't even know, bro; I'm sorry,” McDowell said. “I really just… I haven't even processed yet.”
Asked if he had ever experienced a feeling like this after a loss, McDowell said, simply, “Nah. Never in my life,” adding that it differed drastically from the feeling he had in 2024, when the Jayhawks lost to Gonzaga in Round 2, 89-68 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“And I thought that hurt,” he said. “I was in the locker room sobbing after that one. I thought that one hurt. We lost by 20 and I didn’t even play that night.”
Sunday’s loss ends the Jayhawks’ season at 24-11 and short of the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year.
Now, with that painful moment in the rearview, the program will move forward into another offseason that figures to bring a bunch of new faces and perhaps even some significant moments, be that through additions or subtractions to the roster.
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