Kansas and St. John’s will assembly for the fifteenth time in males’s basketball and KU holds a 9-5 sequence benefit. The most well-known assembly was the second sport in the sequence when Kansas defeated St. John’s, 80-63, in the 1952 NCAA title sport in Seattle.
The KU-St. John’s contest pits two Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coaches. Kansas head coach Bill Self was inducted in the corridor in 2017, whereas St. John’s Rick Pitino was a category of 2013 inductee. Both coaches have received two NCAA Tournaments.
Kansas is coming off a 68-60 win towards No. 13 seed California Baptist on March 20 in the spherical of 64 in the NCAA Tournament. St. John’s received its seventh-straight sport by defeating Northern Iowa, 79-53, in its opening spherical contest.
Kansas has performed 14 groups in the 2026 NCAA Championship area and has posted a mixed file of 11-7 towards these opponents.
Kansas is averaging 75.4 factors per sport and has a plus-6.3 scoring margin. KU pulls down 38.9 rebounds per contest with a plus-2.1 rebound margin. KU averages 14.1 assists, 5.5 steals, and 5.7 blocked pictures per contest. KU leads the Big 12 in area objective share protection at 38.7%, which is third nationally, and three-point area objective share protection at 30.5%, which is twenty eighth nationally. KU additionally leads the Big 12 in blocked pictures (5.7), which is sixth nationally.
An Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention, All-Big 12 Second Team and All-Freshman Team choice, freshman guard Darryn Peterson leads Kansas with a 20.1 scoring common after his 28 factors in the NCAA Tournament opener towards California Baptist (3/20). He has averaged 23.3 factors in his final 4 outings, Peterson has 11 video games of 20 or extra factors. He leads with 60 threes made in 23 video games performed this season. Peterson is on most each nationwide participant of the yr watch record.
Senior guard Tre White is second on the group with seven double-doubles this season and he’s second with 56 three-point area targets made. White is averaging 13.8 factors and 6.7 rebounds per contest. White leads Kansas with 123 free throws made and his 87.2 free throw share ranks second in the Big 12.
The Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, All-Big 12 First Team and All-Defensive Team choice, sophomore middle Flory Bidunga is a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Semifinalist (1 of 10) and a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year finalist (1 of 5). He scores 13.3 factors per contest and leads KU with 9.1 rebounds per outing. Bidunga has pulled down 10 or extra rebounds in two of his final three and three of his final 5 video games. An Academic All-American candidate, Bidunga has a team-best 13 double-doubles for the season, which is second in the Big 12 and twenty third nationally. Bidunga leads the Big 12 with 88 blocked pictures, which is fourth nationally. His 2.59 blocks per sport are fifth nationally and leads the league and his 63.9 area objective share leads the Big 12 and is eleventh nationally. At 13.0 ppg, 9.2 rpg, and a pair of.6 bpg, Bidunga is the one participant in NCAA Division I to common greater than 13.0 factors, 8.5 rebounds and a pair of.5 blocked pictures per sport.
The Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, All-Newcomer Team and All-Big 12 Honorable Mention choice, senior guard Melvin Council Jr. is averaging 12.6 factors per contest. He leads Kansas with 173 assists and with 35 steals. Council is fifth in the Big 12, fortieth nationally, with a 2.82 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Redshirt-freshman ahead Bryson Tiller averages 8.1 factors and 6.1 rebounds per contest. Tiller is second on the group with 45 blocked pictures and has began 30 video games this season for KU.
Redshirt-sophomore guard Elmarko Jackson (4.8 ppg, 24 steals), redshirt-sophomore guard Jamari McDowell (3.4 ppg, 30 threes), freshman Kohl Rosario (3.3, 17 threes), and senior guard Jayden Dawson (2.1 ppg, 12 threes) spherical out the KU regulars.
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Should Kansas win its spherical of 32 sport towards St. John’s, KU would advance to the Sweet 16 and play the winner of the No. 1 Duke versus No. 9 TCU on Friday, March 27 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Historically, Kansas has superior to 31 Sweet 16 video games with its most up-to-date in 2022 en route to the NCAA National Championship.
