St. Peter’s Will Face Purdue in Sweet 16 Match-up
After shocking the world with victories over Kentucky and Murray State over the weekend, the St. Peter’s men’s basketball team will take on Purdue in the Sweet 16 at 7:09 p.m. on Friday, March 25.
Purdue has opened as a 12.5 point favorite to win the game.
The Boilermakers made their way to the Sweet 16 after topping Texas 81-71 on Sunday night. Trevion Williams led the way with 22 points; while Zach Edey added a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards.
Of course fans in New Jersey are quiet familiar with the Boilermakers, having seen Rutgers split two games with Purdue earlier this season. In fact, after Purdue beat Rutgers 84-72 on February 20, the Boilermakers went 3-3 in their final six games before winning two in a row to open the tournament.
As for St. Peter’s their remarkable run takes them to the deepest part of the NCAA Tournament that the program has ever been to. In three previous trips to the tournament, St. Peter’s was knocked out of the first round. Their stunning upset of Kentucky on Thursday was the largest financial gap between schools funding their basketball programs by about $11.7 million.
On Saturday, St. Peter’s never trailed against a Murray State team that carried a 21-game winning streak into the contest, and hadn’t lost since December 22.
Can St. Peter’s keep it going? According to head coach Shaheen Holloway, their run is not surprising to them: “the guys got a lot of heart, they have a chip on their shoulder and they got something to prove. It’s something we have been doing the whole year. Since I took it over, I recruit guys who were underrecruited. I want guys who want something to prove and have a chip on their shoulder.”
The winner of Friday’s matchup will face the winner of North Carolina-UCLA on Sunday.