WASHINGTON — Somewhat lost amid Dylan Darling’s buzzer-beating layup in Sunday’s win over Kansas are his 3-point shooting struggles of late.
St. John’s junior point guard has missed his last 16 attempts. Darling seems unfazed, confident he can get back on track from distance in the Sweet 16 Friday night against top-seeded Duke at Capital One Arena.
“I’ve gotten a lot of shots up,” Darling said. “Hopefully, some will drop [on Friday].”
Darling believes his shooting woes are different from the start of the season, when he was hesitant and not putting enough arc on the shot.
“I think early in the year it was a little bit of a mechanical issue with my arc and stuff like that,” he said. “Now I feel like I’ve just been missing shots, which happens. Coach [Rick Pitino] keeps telling me to keep shooting. Hopefully, I see that first one drop.”
Duke point guard Caleb Foster, out since March 7 after suffering a fracture in his right foot, will be a game-time decision, according to coach Jon Scheyer. Foster underwent surgery March 8. The junior practiced a “little bit” Wednesday and was on the floor with his teammates during the portion of Thursday’s practice that was open to the media.
“I just go back to when he got hurt. He told me, ‘Look, if I do this and work every day, you’ve got to promise me you’ll let me put this uniform on again with our guys,’ ” Scheyer said. “He’s in a position where he’s going to try to do that [Friday] night.”
Without Foster, Duke has averaged 12 turnovers in five games, up from their 10.5 season average. More ball-handling responsibilities have been given to star forward Cameron Boozer, who has averaged 4.4 turnovers in said span.
Foster arrived at the arena in a boot and needed the help of a scooter to get around. He wasn’t made available to the media.
Several members of St. John’s 1998-99 Elite Eight team, the last group of Johnnies to reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, are expected to be in attendance Friday night.
That group includes Tyrone Grant, Bootsy Thornton, Chudney Gray, Reggie Jessie and Erick Barkley. Metta-Sandiford Artest (formerly Ron Artest) may join them.