Iowa State's Jamarion Batemon celebrates during his team's NCAA tourney win over Kentucky on Sunday to reach the Sweet 16. (AP photo)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Dylan Darling hit a driving layup as time expired for his only bucket of the game, and St. John’s advanced to its first Sweet 16 since 1999 with a 67-65 victory over Kansas in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

Darling, the Johnnies’ tenacious point guard, cooly won it after Kansas (24-11) erased a 58-45 deficit with 7 1/2 minutes to play, making a furious 20-7 run capped by Darryn Peterson’s two free throws to tie it with 13.1 seconds left.

The Jayhawks had four fouls to give, and they used all four to wind the clock down to 3.9 seconds. That was plenty of time for Darling, the Idaho State transfer who had missed his four previous shots.

Darling got the ball up top and drove the lane for a shot that banked in as time expired. His teammates tackled him in front of the St. John’s band in celebration.

Zuby Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins scored 18 points apiece for the fifth-seeded Red Storm (30-6), who have roared back to college basketball prominence in just three seasons under coach Rick Pitino.

St. John’s advanced to face No. 1 overall seed Duke in the East Region semifinals in Washington.

The 73-year-old Pitino and 63-year-old Bill Self coached against each other for only the second time in the Hall of Famers’ decades-long careers, meeting for the first time in March Madness. They’re two of the three active coaches with multiple national titles, and now Pitino still has a chance to claim his third.

With Kansas transfer Ejiofor leading the way, St. John’s has won 21 of its last 22 games since early January, capped by the Johnnies’ second and third NCAA Tournament victories in the past quarter-century this weekend.

St. John’s won the Big East regular-season and tournament titles during its surge, and this Red Storm haven’t eased up a bit.

Peterson scored 21 points and Melvin Council Jr. had 15 points and nine rebounds for the fourth-seeded Jayhawks, who still haven’t returned to the Sweet 16 since they claimed Self’s second national title in 2022. After Kansas ended Arizona’s unbeaten season in a landmark victory on Feb. 9, the Jayhawks subsequently lost six of their final 11 games.

Self said after the game he hadn’t decided whether to continue his Hall of Fame career next season.

IOWA 73, FLORIDA 72

Alvaro Folgueiras told Bennett Stirtz he’d be ready for the ball, and he delivered in the clutch.

Folgueiras nailed a 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds remaining and Iowa eliminated defending national champion Florida.

Under first-year coach Ben McCollum, the Hawkeyes reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999, while Florida (27-8) became the first No. 1 seed to be knocked out of this year’s March Madness.

“This is really special,” Folgueiras said. “March is for the dreamers and there’s no better dreamer than us. It’s incredible. We have to keep going. We are one of the 16 best teams in the country. We’re still hungry.”

Iowa (23-12) wasted a 12-point lead in the second half but rallied in the final minutes, becoming the first No. 9 seed to beat a No. 1 since 2018, when Florida State shocked Xavier. The Hawkeyes will face No. 4 seed Nebraska in the South Region semifinals Thursday night in Houston.

“They fight, they compete, they exemplify everything we want in Iowa basketball,” said McCollum, who brought Stirtz and three other players with him from Drake.

Xaivian Lee’s driving layup put Florida ahead 71-68 with under two minutes left. Stirtz answered with a floater to cut it to 71-70 with 57 seconds remaining.

After Thomas Haugh missed a 3-pointer, Stirtz missed a running layup and Isaiah Brown grabbed the rebound with 8.9 seconds left. Brown made his second free throw.

But Iowa easily broke Florida’s full-court press and Folguerias was wide open in the corner for his 3. The play was designed for Stirtz but when the defense converged on him, he tossed it to his teammate.

IOWA STATE 82, KENTUCKY 63

Tamin Lipsey knew he had to step up for Iowa State with All-America forward Joshua Jefferson sitting on the bench, his sprained left ankle still encased in a boot, as the Cyclones played Kentucky on Sunday for a spot in the Sweet 16.

Lipsey, who grew up in the shadows of the Iowa State campus in Ames, answered with the finest game of his four-year career.

The senior guard poured in a career-high 26 points, tied a career high with 10 assists, and led a suffocating defense that shut down the Wildcats in the second half, allowing the second-seeded Cyclones to pull away for an 82-63 victory in the NCAA Tournament.

Lipsey didn’t do it alone, of course — he needed someone scoring to pile up all those assists. Milan Momcilovic scored 20 points and Nate Heise, getting the start in Jefferson’s place, added 12 to help the Cyclones (29-7) advance to a Midwest Region semifinal against either third-seeded Virginia or No. 6 seed Tennessee on Friday night in Chicago.

PURDUE 79, MIAMI 69

Fletcher Loyer scored 24 points, Trey Kaufman-Renn had 19 points and nine rebounds, and No. 2 seed Purdue beat Miami 79-69 on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Sweet 16 for the third straight time and seventh in the last nine years.

In his first game since breaking Bobby Hurley’s NCAA career record for assists, Braden Smith had 12 points and eight assists but was also harassed by Miami’s athletic guards into eight turnovers, matching his career high.

Smith hit four free throws in the final minute after seventh-seeded Miami (26-9) had cut an 11-point deficit to 73-69, helping to secure Painter’s 500th victory in 21 seasons as Purdue’s coach.

TENNESSEE 79, VIRGINIA 72

Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored 21 points, Nate Ament and Bishop Boswell made critical free throws down the stretch and sixth-seeded Tennessee advanced to its fourth straight Sweet 16, beating Virginia 79-72 in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

The Vols (24-11) will face No. 2 seed Iowa State in a Midwest Region semifinal in Chicago on Friday night.

A year after he helped Maryland reach the Sweet 16, Gillespie led the way for the Vols. Tennessee has been a consistent first-weekend winner under coach Rick Barnes, who has yet to lead the school to the Final Four.

Gillespie had 50 points in two games in Philly — he scored 29 against Miami (Ohio) in the first round.

Against No. 3 seed Virginia, he made the shot of the game on a desperation 3-point heave as the shot clock expired and followed that with a tremendous lob pass for an alley-oop to J.P. Estrella for a 62-53 lead.

UCONN 73, UCLA 57

Alex Karaban scored a career-high 27 points and had Bill Murray and the rest of the UConn crowd roaring with each splashed 3-pointer, helping send the second-seeded Huskies back to the Sweet 16 with a win over UCLA.

The Huskies (31-5) will play third-seeded Michigan State in the East Region semifinals on Friday night in Washington.

Coach Dan Hurley, who won consecutive national championships in 2023 and 2024, has the Huskies back in a familiar spot after they were bounced in the second round a year ago by eventual national champion Florida.

The Gators are gone already in March Madness. The games will go on for the Huskies.

Karaban was about a one-man show for UConn in the first half with a pair of 3s and 11 points and the fourth-year senior remains in the hunt for this third national championship.

ARIZONA 78, UTAH STATE 66

Jaden Bradley scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, Motiejus Krivas had 11 points and 14 rebounds and top-seeded Arizona beat No. 9-seeded Utah State to advance to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in five seasons under coach Tommy Lloyd.

The Wildcats (34-2) take an 11-game winning streak into Thursday’s game against No. 4-seeded Arkansas in the West Region in San Jose.

The Wildcats will be looking to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since doing so in both 2014 and 2015. They began their March Madness run by breezing to an opening 92-58 victory over Long Island on Friday.

Arizona, which won the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles, led the whole way in front of a loud, red-clad contingent of fans that made it feel like a home game some 400 miles from campus.

ALABAMA 90, TEXAS TECH 65

Latrell Wrightsell, Jr. scored 24 points and fourth-seeded Alabama earned a fourth straight trip to the Sweet 16 with rout of No. 5 seed Texas Tech.

The Crimson Tide (25-9), who also got 15 points from Houston Mallette, advanced to the Midwest Region semifinals against top-seeded Michigan in Chicago next Friday night. They built an early double-digit lead against the Red Raiders (23-11), exploiting a size advantage inside to dominate the backboards and making 11 3-pointers on the way to leading 49-25 at halftime.

Texas Tech, which reached the Elite Eight a year ago, didn’t get closer than 18 the rest of the way. Alabama, two years removed from a Final Four run, led by 34 in the second half.

Both teams entered March Madness short-handed. The Red Raiders were playing without injured All-American JT Toppin, who tore the ACL in his right knee last month, and Alabama played without star guard Aden Holloway, who was suspended indefinitely after being arrested on a felony drug charge last week.