March Madness - Saint Peter’s Reach the Sweet 16

Saint Peter’s have advanced to the Sweet 16 stage of March Madness after triumphant victories over Kentucky and Murray State. For a so-called ‘Cinderella team’, Saint Peter’s are showing plenty of resolve and could just go all the way.

The 70-60 point victory over Murray State set alarm bells ringing across the world of college basketball. With KC Ndefo scoring 17 points and the reliable Doug Edert hitting 13 points, it managed to produce yet another surprising win for Saint Peter’s.

This has set up a massive game against Purdue who is the number-three seed in this year’s March Madness. Purdue is the highest remaining seed in the East Region of this year’s NCAA tournament after the shock exits of Kentucky and Baylor.

Much will depend on whether Saint Peter’s can contain Purdue’s top scorer Jaden Ivey who is proving to be in great form at the moment. But seeing as the Peacocks managed to beat Kentucky in an all-time classic, it shows that truly anything is possible and many NJ sportsbooks will fancy Saint Peter’s to get a shock run.

Peacocks Head Coach Shaheen Holloway was not afraid of Murray State...

Saint Peter’s shock triumph over Kentucky

It was the overtime win over Kentucky that got most of the headlines in college basketball last week. After all, Saint Peter’s went into the game as just the 15-seeded side compared to Kentucky’s number two seed.

In the biggest upset of this year’s March Madness, Saint Peter’s sealed their place in the last 32 with a surprising 85-79 win. It was far from an easy victory for Saint Peter’s as Kentucky frequently took the lead and yet the Peacocks somehow found the strength to fight back and claim a massive victory.

What was remarkable was the way in which Saint Peter’s managed to contain the rampant Kentucky offense. Although Wildcats stars like Oscar Tschiebwe managed to create havoc, Saint Peter’s still managed to keep their opponents back to a shot rate of just 27% from three and 66% from the free throw line. By the time that overtime came around, it was clear that Kentucky was really feeling the pressure and repeatedly blew their chances with some wayward free throw shooting.

Conversely, Saint Peter’s managed to ride their luck and enjoyed a much greater scoring rate. With the guards Daryl Banks and Doug Edert racking up 27 points and 20 points apiece, it showed what a well-rounded team Saint Peter’s have now got. All of which shows that the last 16 game is not necessarily Purdue’s for the taking and lots of Saint Peter’s fans will be using a sportsbook bonus to back the team to get a big win.