KU Jayhawks vs. St. John’s Red Storm: Probable starters, tipoff time, TV & notes
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas and St. John’s meet in San Diego for the 2026 NCAA Round of 32 game.
- Kansas enters 24-10 with deep tournament history and strong neutral-site record.
- St. John’s (29-6) rides 20 wins in 21 and star Zuby Ejiofor’s Big East accolades.
The Kansas Jayhawks will meet St. John’s at 4:15 p.m. Central on Sunday at Viejas Arena in San Diego. It’s a Round of 32 game in the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Here’s what you need to know before tipoff:
St. John’s vs. Kansas: How to watch
When: 4:15 p.m. Central, Sunday
Where: Viejas Arena
TV: CBS
Radio: WHB (810) in Kansas City; ESPN Wichita (92.3 FM)
Probable Starters
KANSAS (24-10)
F (No. 40) — Flory Bidunga, 6-10, Soph., 13.5 ppg
F (15) — Bryson Tiller, 6-11, Fr., 8.2
G (3) — Tre White, 6-7, Sr., 13.8
G (14) — Melvin Council Jr., 6-4, Sr., 12.9
G (22) — Darryn Peterson, 6-6, Fr., 19.8
ST. JOHN’S (29-6)
F (No. 24) — Zuby Ejiofor, 6-9, Sr., 16.3 ppg
F/G (23) —Bryce Hopkins, 6-7, Sr., 13.5
F (1) — Dillon Mitchell, 6-8, Sr., 8.2
G (4) — Oziyah Sellers., 6-5, Sr., 10.7
G (0) — Dylan Darling, 6-1, Jr., 7.0
About No. 4 seed Kansas (24-10)
Kansas is 9-5 all-time against St. John’s. KU has won three in a row and five of six in the series. The Jayhawks won the last meeting 95-75 on Dec. 3, 2021 in New York. The Jayhawks beat the Red Storm 80-63 in the 1952 NCAA finals in Seattle. … Kansas has 24 wins in 19 of Bill Self’s 23 seasons at Kansas. … KU is 6-2 in neutral site games this season. … KU is 114-51 in the NCAA Tournament. … KU is 38-3 in its last 41 NCAA Tournament round-of-64 games, beginning in 1981.
Bill Self is 633-166 while at Kansas, 840-271 all-time, and 54-24 all-time in the NCAA Tournament (44-19 while at Kansas). … KU is 48-6 all-time in NCAA championship first-round games, including 38-3 since 1981. … Kansas has advanced to 31 Sweet 16s, 15 Final Fours and won four national titles in the current format (1952, 1988, 2008, 2022). . …
Kansas’ halftime lead of 20 points against Cal Baptist on Friday marked Kansas’ largest halftime lead in an NCAA tournament game since leading Texas Southern by 28 points (47-19) in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. The Lancers cut the gap to six late before KU closed out a 68-60 win.
Kansas held Cal Baptist to 35.9% (23-of-64) shooting, marking the lowest field goal percentage against the Jayhawks since holding North Carolina to 31.5% (23-of-73) in the 2022 National Championship. … Kansas is making its third trip to the state of California for the NCAA Tournament. In 2003, in Anaheim, California, the Jayhawks defeated Duke and Arizona in the West Regional to advance to the Final Four in New Orleans. In 2007, in San Jose, California, Kansas defeated Southern Illinois and lost to UCLA in the West Regional. …
Kansas’ 28 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, from 1990 to 2017, is the longest streak in NCAA Tournament appearance history, tied by North Carolina in 2024. Kansas has an actual streak of 36 from 1990 to present, but its 2018 appearance was later vacated by the IARP.
About No. 5 seed St. John’s (29-6)
The Red Storm advanced to the Round of 32 by beating No. 12 seed Northern Iowa on Friday. … Zuby Ejiofor, a transfer from Kansas, recently was named Big East player of the year, defensive player of the year and scholar/athlete of the year. He was MVP of the conference tournament… Ejiofor is the first St. John’s player to win POY and DPOY since Josh Hart in 2017. … Bryce Hopkins was named second-team all-Big East. … Dillon Mitchell was named to the all-Big East third team.
St. John’s is making NCAA appearances in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999-2000. … St. John’s is one of 27 programs to have earned at least 31 bids to the NCAA Tournament. The Red Storm are a No. 5 seed for the third time since seeding began in 1979. The team was slotted fifth in 1982 and 1993 and owns a 3-2 record all-time as a No. 5 seed. …
The Red Storm won 20 of their last 21 games, including a dominant three-day run at Madison Square Garden during last week’s Big East Tournament. The team never trailed and led for more than 118 minutes on its way to a second straight conference tourney title. St. John’s beat Providence (85-72), Seton Hall (78-68) and UConn (72-52). …
At the conclusion of the conference tournaments, St. John’s ranked 16th in the NET, 17th in KenPom, 15th in T-Rank and 16th in BPI. The Red Storm were 14th in wins above bubble, 16th in strength of schedule. St. John’s finished with a 5-5 Quad 1 record and a perfect 11-0 mark in Quad 2. … St. John’s coach Rick Pitino is fourth coach in NCAA history to record 900 Div. I victories. Pitino, third winningest coach in Div. I, has 913 wins, trailing only Jim Boeheim (1,116) and Mike Krzyzewski (1,202).
