Despite Rick Pitino’s hope that Ian Jackson can emerge as the next point guard for the St. John’s basketball team, he has added some insurance to his backcourt with the veteran presence of Idaho State point guard Dylan Darling.
Darling, the Big Sky Player of the Year, averaged 19.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.7 steals per game in his first season with the Bengals after spending the previous two seasons at Washington State.
The 6-foot-1 guard played in 25 games during his freshman season with the Cougars before being limited to only three games as a sophomore due to a back injury and receiving a medical redshirt.
He has two years of eligibility remaining.
The Spokane, Washington native added to the impressive transfer portal class for the Red Storm that includes Arizona State wing Joson Sanon, Providence forward Bryce Hopkins, Stanford guard Oziyah Sellers, North Carolina guard Ian Jackson, and Cincinnati forward Dillon Mitchell.
Dylan Darling’s role at the beginning of the season will be to serve as a ball handler off the bench that gives the Johnnies a proven lead guard on its roster. The amount of playing time he receives will be based on the production Jackson shows as the lead guard.
He completed his official visit to St. John’s on Thursday and committed nearly immediately. It marks the fourth straight day the program has received a commitment, which stated on Monday with Jackson and followed by Austrian high school prospect Imran Suljanovic and Mitchell.
St. John’s primary rotation of players is now set after the addition of Darling, but it could still look to add a backup center to its roster after Vince Iwuchukwu entered the transfer portal. However, it would be a minor addition, and that player wouldn’t have much anticipated playing time.