The one thing missing in St. John’s win over Butler was Dylan Darling.
The usual steady guard never ditched his warmups in the 14-point victory and Rick Pitino said after the game it was because the Red Storm wanted more rebounding on the floor and Darling would have a hard time switching against the Butler guards.
But it felt like more was missing to the story.
Darling attempted just one shot in 20 minutes during the Johnnies’ loss against Providence last Saturday and committed the backbreaking foul on a 4-point play from Stefan Vaaks which brought the Friars within a point of the Red Storm late in the second half.
Yet Darling never wavered or lost confidence from the benching. Instead, he got motivated and aggressive, and it showed during the Red Storm’s 90-73 victory over Creighton on Saturday afternoon in Omaha.
“During this generation, what are the chances of a player sulking, coming to see the coach, [asking] how come I didn’t play?” Rick Pitino said following the win.
Pitino explained that Darling came into his office during the week and admitted that he didn’t deserve to play against the Bulldogs with the way he had been playing over the last few games. The Hall of Famer responded and told him he needed to get back to playing like the “junkyard dog” he showed when he arrived in Queens.
“It just shows you the attitude and character we put together on this basketball team,” Pitino added.
Darling scored 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 from 3-point range against the Bluejays and had seven points during the Red Storm’s 34-11 run to close the first half in which they seized control of the game.
“There’s just no time to sulk and complain about it,” Darling said reflecting on his benching.
“I realized I wasn’t productive at all in the Providence game, and I understood why I didn’t play [against Butler], so I tried to come back at practice and just try to get better.”
After St. John’s beat Iona in early December, Rick Pitino said that he was going to totally breakdown Dylan Darling’s shot as he was struggling shooting 3-pointers. Since that point, Darling has made 10-of-17 triples after starting the season 1-for-15 and Pitino wants him to be even more aggressive on offense.
“I said ‘Dylan, if you’re not going to have the confidence to shoot the ball with all the time I put in with you, then you can’t play.’ So, he’s going out and looking for his shot, which is awesome.”
St. John’s is hoping that the learning moment is a turning point in Dylan Darling’s season, and he remains aggressive and smart through the rest of the year.