St. John's forward Zuby Ejiofor (24) and his teammates get loose in the hallway prior to practice on Thursday, March 19, 2026 at Viejas Arena in San Diego. Photo by Nick Krug

SAN DIEGO — It took an additional year, but Kansas and St. John’s are set to meet in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

A year after KU’s first-round exit with a loss to Arkansas in Providence, Rhode Island, deprived the 2025 postseason of a battle between legendary head coaches Bill Self and Rick Pitino — not to mention a potential revenge game for former Jayhawk forward and St. John’s star Zuby Ejiofor — those storylines will now come to fruition on the opposite coast on Sunday afternoon when the Jayhawks and Red Storm meet at Viejas Arena in San Diego.

KU is looking to return to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since it won the national title in 2022 (and the second since the now-vacated 2018 Final Four run). That may feel like a long time for Jayhawk fans, but St. John’s hasn’t reached a Sweet 16 since 1999, Mike Jarvis’ first and most successful season in charge.

That’s despite the fact that the Red Storm won both the Big East regular-season and tournament championships last year and was a No. 2 seed — only to, like KU, get unceremoniously upset by John Calipari’s Arkansas.

This year, St. John’s has earned those same titles with the same 18-2 league record, albeit with a couple more blemishes in nonleague play (the Johnnies went 1-2 at the Players Era tournament with a loss to an Auburn team that ended the year in the NIT). But in a weak year for the Big East, despite churning through one opponent after another and having lost just once — Feb. 25 at UConn — since Jan. 3, St. John’s only received a No. 5 seed.

The Red Storm is on a tear and avenged that UConn defeat in the Big East tournament final, then defeated Northern Iowa with relative ease in Friday evening’s NCAA opener, 79-53.

A big reason for the success St. John’s has experienced in recent seasons is the 6-foot-9 forward Ejiofor, a former Jayhawk who spent one year at KU as a freshman out of Garland, Texas. As Self has said, KU didn’t want Ejiofor to leave following the 2022-23 season by any means, but it brought in Hunter Dickinson from the transfer portal and, at the time Ejiofor chose to depart, still had Ernest Udeh Jr. on the roster along with him. Self called it “the right decision” for his player.

Since then he has blossomed, and in his senior season is the Big East player of the year and defensive player of the year, an All-American honorable mention — Self said he should have received an even greater All-American distinction — and the Johnnies’ leader in points (16.3), rebounds (7.3), assists (3.5) and blocks (2.2) per game.

Self said that “when you lead a team that good in four major categories, you know you’re a good player.”

“I love Zuby,” Self said. “I’d say pleasantly surprised (by his development) when you’re talking about All-American and Big East player of the year. But not surprised at all that he’s a pro. Not surprised at all that he’s done extremely well. Rick was obviously a great fit for him.”

Of course St. John’s has had to be far more than a one-man show to enjoy this successful a season. The Johnnies are KenPom’s No. 11 defense (KU is No. 8) and Ejiofor’s frontcourt partner Dillon Mitchell joined him on the Big East’s all-defensive team while also earning a third-team all-conference nod. Mitchell, who previously faced the Jayhawks while at Texas and Cincinnati, is an athletic 6-foot-8 forward averaging 8.2 points and 7.0 rebounds.

The other top player for St. John’s is wing Bryce Hopkins, a veteran Providence transfer who contributes 13.5 points and 6.2 boards. (If it wasn’t clear, the Johnnies will present another challenge for KU’s big men on the glass, particularly as the Jayhawks look to prevent second-chance opportunities.)

The Red Storm is not much of a shooting team. St. John’s makes just seven 3-pointers per game and its three highest-volume shooters — Stanford transfer Oziyah Sellers, Arizona State transfer Joson Sanon and North Carolina transfer Ian Jackson — are shooting 34.9%, 34.8% and 35.7% beyond the arc, respectively. Pitino has tried several lineups but has been starting Dylan Darling, a 6-foot-1 point guard formerly of Idaho State, since Feb. 28.

The winner of Sunday’s contest will move on to Capital One Arena in Washington to face either No. 1 seed Duke or No. 8 seed TCU in the East region semifinal on Friday.

KANSAS JAYHAWKS (24-10, 12-6 BIG 12) vs. ST. JOHN’s RED STORM (29-6, 18-2 BIG EAST)

• Viejas Arena, San Diego, 4:15 p.m. Central Time

• Broadcast: CBS

• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KMXN FM 92.9)

KEEP AN EYE OUT

First wave: Since the postseason began, St. John’s has been destroying its opponents in the opening minutes of games. The Johnnies’ 13-0 start against UNI on Friday was merely the continuation of a recent trend, as they opened ahead 9-0 against Providence, 8-0 against Seton Hall and 10-0 against UConn in the Big East tournament. KU has not been bad to open games this season, but its shooting was quite poor initially against CBU. The Jayhawks will need to attempt to build some sort of early-game rhythm against a team that has made that quite difficult of late.

Outside chance: Considering that St. John’s doesn’t necessarily fill it up from beyond the arc, KU has an opportunity to outpace the Red Storm if it can channel some of its outside-shooting form from earlier in the season. The Jayhawks at one point this year (from Dec. 7 to Jan. 13) made at least eight 3s in eight straight games. They have done that four times in 17 games since, and on Friday every Jayhawk other than Darryn Peterson was a combined 0-for-8 from deep. A lot of that trend has to do with the up-and-down performances of Tre White, who has provided the best 3-point shooting of his career this year but has started the postseason slow in that respect. Still, plenty of players can contribute in this realm and will surely need to do so if KU hopes to advance.

Tall trio: Another KU opponent playing multiple big men means another test of the toughness and discipline of Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Flory Bidunga and his frontcourt partner Bryson Tiller. Tiller looked a bit better in his CBU showing than in his undistinguished Big 12 tournament performances, but the real story of Friday night was the increased viability of freshman Paul Mbiya as a third big man off the bench. If the much-improved rookie can keep it up, he could help curtail the Red Storm’s biggest sources of offense.

OFF-KILTER OBSERVATION

The most famous meeting between the Jayhawks and Johnnies, and the only one in the postseason, was the 1952 national title game in Seattle, which yielded one of KU’s six championships. Clyde Lovellette was the star with 33 points and 17 rebounds as he became the first player to both lead the nation in scoring and win a title in the same year.

St. John’s guard Dylan Darling (0), St. John’s guard Fotis Konstantinidis (7) and the rest of the team get loose in the hallways prior to practice on Thursday, March 19, 2026 at Viejas Arena in San Diego. Photo by Nick Krug

St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino laughs with members of the broadcast crew during practice on Thursday, March 19, 2026 at Viejas Arena in San Diego. Photo by Nick Krug

St. John’s guard Ian Jackson (11) drives past Northern Iowa guard Geon Hutchins (2) during the first half on Friday, March 20, 2026 at Viejas Arena in San Diego. Photo by Nick Krug

St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino gets fired up during the first half against Northern Iowa on Friday, March 20, 2026 at Viejas Arena in San Diego. Photo by Nick Krug

St. John’s forward Zuby Ejiofor (24) gets past Northern Iowa forward Will Hornseth (13) as he drives to the bucket during the first half on Friday, March 20, 2026 at Viejas Arena in San Diego. Photo by Nick Krug