No. 15 seed Saint Peter's Peacocks topple Murray State Racers as electrifying run rolls into Sweet 16

play

The coach of Saint Peter's didn't bring his team to Indianapolis for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament to just show up and lose.

He was correct.

The Peacocks are going to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history after beating Murray State 70-60 on Saturday. The winner of the game between Texas and Purdue will play the Peacocks.

The NCAA tournament is a dream for every kid. The MAAC is a great league and a great tournament. We play on television. We don't get a lot of big TV games. These guys will get a chance to show off their talent. That is what I am proud of. The guys worked so hard. I am proud of them.

The feel-good team of the tournament so far is Saint Peter's, a school with 2,300 students. The Peacocks shocked Kentucky in the first round and then led from start to finish in beating Murray State.

Since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985, only two No. 15 seeds have made it to the Sweet 16.

Jersey City, New Jersey, where the school is located, is only about 90 miles from Philadelphia, so Saint Peter's won't have to travel far for their Sweet 16 game.

Doug Edert said that the Sweet 16 is another quick turn around. We have to move on and start preparing for the next team, because what we did is amazing, but it is already in the past.

The Peacocks have never been in the tournament more than four seasons in a row. The players have taken on the mindset of their head coach. During his four-year career at Seton Hall, Holloway was a player who didn't back down from anyone. He beat out Kobe Bryant to win the McDonald's All-American Game's Most Valuable Player award in 1996.

That is how I played, right? I played that way all the time. I tell my guys all the time that I will give them 200%. I was a good player. I am small. People said I was out. I had to prove something. I coached that way. It is a give-and-take thing. I will let you play offense if you work hard on defense. That is us.

You can go out there if you give me what I want. You do not come out of the game playing for me. You leave the game for making mistakes. That is just how it is.

The Murray State team was held to 34.6% shooting and 19 points below their season average in points by the Peacocks.

I'm going to say this. It will come off a little crazy. I have guys from New Jersey and New York City. You think we are worried about guys trying to muscle us?