Had St. John’s been able to get a couple of defensive rebounds and not need the dramatics of Dylan Darling against Kansas, Bryce Hopkins would have been the star of its Round of 32 victory over Kansas.
The Second Team All-Big East selection delivered his best game of season when the Red Storm needed it most, scoring 18 points on six made 3-pointers. He not only set a career-high in triples but broke a St. John’ single game NCAA Tournament record, previously held by Erick Barkley and RJ Luis.
“I was all over Bryce Hopkins” Rick Pitino said after the 67-65 win. “Actually, got all over him, I said, ‘Why won't you shoot the 3?’ I yelled at him when made it. I said, ‘Hit it, Bryce. Hit it.’”
His triple with 1:29 remaining was the biggest shot of the game for St. John’s behind Darling’s layup. At the time, it pushed the Red Storm lead to four, 65-61, before the Jayhawks scored four straight points to tie the game with 14.1 seconds left.
“I feel like I’m extremely confident,” Hopkins explained. “The early mishaps I had on the offensive end was just trying to get comfortable out there on the offensive end, building the chemistry with the guys and stuff like that.”
Since the regular season finale in which the Johnnies won the Big East championship, Hopkins has been averaging 14.5 points per game and shooting 11-of-24 (45.8-percent) from 3-point range. In his last three games, he’s 10-for-14 from the outside.
“This is why I came here,” Hopkins added. “Playing for Coach [Pitino], he gives so much confidence to his players. We came here to win, we said it, this was our goal and we have more that we are fighting for.”
After helping lead St. John’s to its first Sweet 16 appearance since 1999, Bryce Hopkins and the Red Storm will turn its attention to Duke, the top overall seed in the tournament, as he admitted that he grew up rooting for the Blue Devils.
“We’re going to have to be locked into the scouting report.”