Saint Peter’s has made history in the NCAA Tournament.
The Peacocks on Friday stunned Purdue 67-64 in their East Region semifinal game. They are now the first 15-seed ever to advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
Previously, a pair of 15 seeds made the Sweet 16, but both lost. The original 15-seed to advance, Florida Gulf Coast (aka “Dunk City”) lost to Florida in 2013. 15-seed Oral Roberts lost to Arkansas in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
Saint Peter’s is the biggest underdog seeding-wise to advance the farthest in the tournament.
Their game with the Boilermakers was close all along. The contest was a 1-possession game most of the way, and really didn’t get more than four points apart in either direction.
The difference at the end came with Saint Peter’s clutch shooting at the free throw line. The Peacocks went 19/21 (90.5 percent) at the line for the game. They were an impressive 11/11 on their free throws over the final 4:02.
Purdue didn’t realize how good Saint Peter’s was at the line and kept fouling them, which cost them.
Saint Peter’s went 19-11 in the regular season. Now they are 22-11 following NCAA Tournament wins against Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue.
