History Made: Saint Peter’s Becomes First 15-Seed To Reach Elite Eight
All of us anticipated the miraculous run to come back to an finish. Nicely, possibly “we” didn’t, however I certain did. Most Cinderella tales within the NCAA event finally come to their inevitable conclusion a lot sooner than the followers of school basketball would really like. The sheer measurement of the blue blood applications, chock…
All of us anticipated the miraculous run to come back to an finish. Nicely, possibly “we” didn’t, however I certain did.
Most Cinderella tales within the NCAA event finally come to their inevitable conclusion a lot sooner than the followers of school basketball would really like. The sheer measurement of the blue blood applications, chock full with big-time recruits, at all times winds up being the downfall of the double-digit event seed.
However not this time. Not this event.
On Friday night time, tiny Saint Peter’s of Jersey Metropolis, New Jersey, continued their unbelievable run, turning into the primary 15-seed to advance to the Elite Eight after beating 3-seed Purdue 67-64.
Jaden Ivey’s three-point try got here up quick on the buzzer, setting off the celebration, and permitting small faculties throughout the nation to dream large.
THE ST. PETER’S PEACOCKS HAVE DONE IT
FIRST EVER 15-SEED TO ADVANCE TO THE ELITE EIGHT ? pic.twitter.com/H8FMQJPrr5
— CBS Sports activities (@CBSSports) March 26, 2022
“I acquired a bunch of men that simply play basketball and have enjoyable. That’s all we do,” Saint Peter’s Coach Shaheen Holloway said after the sport.
It was the protection that acquired the job executed for the Peacocks, forcing 15 Purdue turnovers and a 5 of 21 taking pictures night time from past the arc.
“What they gonna say now? Anyone acquired one thing to say?” Holloway said after the sport. “We will’t do that, we are able to’t do this, cinderella, underdogs. Pay attention, I acquired guys that simply play basketball. I acquired a bunch of men that simply play basketball and have enjoyable, that’s all we do.”
There wasn’t an unimaginable offensive efficiency from one particular person, or a scorching scorching taking pictures night time from the ground. As an alternative, it was strong protection and clutch free throws after they mattered probably the most.
Three Saint Peter’s gamers scored in double figures, together with 10 factors from a brand new March Insanity favourite in Doug Edert. On the night time, Saint Peter’s was 19-21 from the charity stripe, pulling down their last 11 makes an attempt to safe their third large upset of the event.
“We’re completely happy, however make no mistake, we’re not happy in any respect,” Edert said. “We’re not completed, and we really feel like we belong.
“Clearly now we have much more followers now than we did a couple of weeks in the past, nevertheless it doesn’t change the way in which we play out on the ground,” he continued. “We didn’t play any totally different tonight than we might have even when there weren’t any followers within the constructing.”
The Peacocks advance to the Elite Eight to tackle one other blue blood program in North Carolina, after the Tar Heels 73-66 win over UCLA on Friday night time.
Very similar to the Peacocks’ first two NCAA opponents, the Boilermakers left the sector in a state of shock.
“I’m truthfully nonetheless in shock,” senior ahead Trevion Williams said. “It simply doesn’t really feel actual. I simply want we may have performed a bit bit higher, like Coach mentioned. Man, you’ve acquired to provide them their respect. That’s an actual workforce. When you don’t respect them, you’ll be outplayed form of like we did in the present day.”
“I imply, truthfully like my thoughts is clean proper now,” senior guard Sasha Stefanovic said after the sport. “I can’t recall precisely what occurred. They made performs down the stretch, and we made some fouls, unnecessarily fouls, and it value us. Credit score to them, they made their free throws and executed down the stretch and performed good protection.”
Within the different Candy 16 matchups, one-seed Kansas knocked off four-seed Windfall 66-61, and 10-seed Miami ended Iowa State’s unimaginable bounce-back season in a 70-56 victory.
Joe Morgan is the Sports activities Reporter for The Each day Wire. Most not too long ago, Morgan coated the Clippers, Lakers and the NBA for Sporting Information. Ship your sports activities inquiries to sports [email protected].
The views expressed on this piece are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially signify these of The Each day Wire.
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