PHILADELPHIA — It quickly became apparent this wasn’t Kentucky or Murray State or Purdue.
The shots weren’t falling, layups were frustratingly rolling off the rim. The defensive coverage wasn’t there, the opponent was getting open looks on the perimeter and just outside of the paint.
But it was more than that. It was that shell-shocked look on the Saint Peter’s players’ faces as the deficit grew, as the North Carolina fans roared, as this dream began to fade deeper and deeper into an unrealistic fantasy.
The clock had struck midnight on Shaheen Holloway’s Cinderella Peacocks. A bigger, stronger and more talented team was playing like it at both ends of the floor. Its stars didn’t come up short like Saint Peter’s first three victims had.
The inevitable arrived Sunday at Wells Fargo Center, as the eighth-seeded Tar Heels emphatically ended the Jersey City school’s magic carpet ride through March, pummeling the first 15th seed to reach the Elite Eight, 69-49. The one-sided win sets up the first-ever encounter between forever-rivals North Carolina and Duke in the NCAA Tournament, and on the biggest stage, too, Saturday night’s Final Four in New Orleans.
“It’s a very emotional time after a loss, a tough loss, and I really thought we were going to win this game,” Holloway said. “No disrespect to them. I just thought we could match up with them pretty good.”
Winners of 16 of their past 19 games, the Tar Heels were too long and too athletic, too talented and ready for the moment, mentally and physically prepared for Saint Peter’s — unlike its first three opponents. It was 9-0 out of the gate, the Peacocks’ largest deficit of the tournament, and 38-19 at the break.
“Our defensive intensity wasn’t up to par today,” said senior star KC Ndefo, one of two Peacocks in double figures, with 10 points. Fousseyni Drame was the other, scoring 12.
Saint Peter’s missed 19 of its first 22 shots and had no answer for star forwards Armando Bacot (20 points, 22 rebounds) and Brady Manek or standout guard Caleb Love. The three Tar Heels (28-9) combined for 53 points on 21-for-43 shooting. Saint Peter’s shot 30 percent from the field, hit only 4 of 16 attempts from deep and were manhandled on the glass, 49-33.
The Peacocks were down by as many as 27 points early in the second half. To their credit, they didn’t lie down. Saint Peter’s (22-12) kept defending and attacking, Holloway kept coaching. It forced Hubert Davis to use a timeout after the Peacocks got within 20, though the MAAC school never got closer than 19.
The ACC dynamo overwhelmed these unrecruited and unranked overachievers from New York and New Jersey, making it feel like Saint Peter’s tournament opener — a 2-15 matchup against Kentucky — was expected to go. Of course, that didn’t happen. The Peacocks pulled three straight stunners, the first three NCAA Tournament wins in program history, the first tournament victory for a MAAC team in 13 years. They became the stars of this tournament for 10 days, putting their unheralded and little-known program on the national map, the first team from the New York City area to get this far since St. John’s in 1999. When the game started, only five teams were left in the tournament, and Saint Peter’s was miraculously one of them.
“We did something historical,” Daryl Banks III said. Later, he added: “We’re going to walk out of here with our heads high.”
But at some point, it was going to come to a screeching halt. Saint Peter’s was going to wake up from this remarkable dream eventually. It ran into a buzz saw Sunday, a blue-blood program with blue-blood talent that has not resembled an eight-seed for quite some time.
From the opening tip, it was clear the Peacocks’ fourth NCAA Tournament game would be vastly different from the first three. Reality arrived on the final Sunday of March. It was inevitable.
“There were definitely emotions in the locker room of sadness,” Ndefo said.
With 1:21 left, Holloway emptied his bench. The six core members of the team — Ndefo, Banks Doug Edert, Foussenyi and Hassan Drame, and Matthew Lee — then huddled with Holloway. “S-P-U” chants rang out, a final salute for Saint Peter’s thrilling and unpredictable run. Holloway’s message: Be proud of your accomplishment.
“A group of guys came in here no one gave a chance to, no one believed in but the people in our locker room that’s in our program, administration, us, and made history,” the coach said. “They shocked the world. You’ve got guys that are going to be remembered for things that they could tell their kids and grandkids about.
“They came in and made history. Point-blank, period. No one has done it.”