Saint Peter’s all business before Elite 8 clash with UNC

Shaheen Holloway and Saint Peter’s are all business as Peacocks battle North Carolina Sunday for trip to Final Four. (Photo by Bob Dea/Daly Dose Of Hoops)

PHILADELPHIA — They have captured the eyes and hearts of a nation, proven that anything is possible. But just 40 minutes away from the ultimate prize in college basketball, Shaheen Holloway and Saint Peter’s still have that pinch-me, is-this-really-happening moment.

Standing between the Peacocks and a trip to New Orleans to play on the grandest stage in the sport is North Carolina, a team few expected to get this far this year in its own right. But for Saint Peter’s, the fairytale is being acknowledged in equal parts with a businesslike approach that has gotten the Peacocks to the East Regional final after victories over Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue that followed similar scripts each time.

“How about that?” Holloway said with a smile when asked if the thought of Saint Peter’s advancing its improbable story with a trip to the Final Four had become real to him yet. “How about that, man? You hear all these stories about why we shouldn’t be here. My thing is this: Every year, a team like us is here. Stories like this don’t really happen. They happen once every year and everybody kind of gets behind it, especially the last two years with COVID and everything. It’s a great story, and I’m just happy that we’re a part of it.”

“It’s a dream. I don’t want to wake up and these guys don’t want to wake up. We want to continue living in this dream we’re in right now.”

Winners of 10 straight, the longest winning streak in the nation after Saint Peter’s stopped Murray State on March 19, the Peacocks have endured shooting woes with a stingy defense that has allowed just 56.5 points per game during its current surge. Still, the potential is ever-present, and according to point guard Matthew Lee, remains untapped in the face of a determined veteran core who follows the blueprint on the floor, but laughs in the face of logic and theory.

“I feel like each game, we get to learn more and more about each other and about this team,” said Lee, who has fought through Saint Peter’s shooting just 9-of-34 from 3-point range in its last two contests. “We may have had a few rough patches and rough shooting, but we feel like we’re just getting better day by day, and we’re going to continue to do that.”

“We’re just wearing people out,” Doug Edert said with regard to the Peacocks’ relentless defensive pressure. “I feel like it comes down to the end of the game, where it’s like, we either win this game or go home. And we refuse to go home.”

That stubborn nature, coupled with the close-knit bonds that have forged Saint Peter’s through a lack of resources, not having a gym of its own last season in the throes of the pandemic, and a 26-day COVID pause in the middle of this season, has only heightened the sense of urgency and gotten the Peacocks to come together as their coach felt they would at the end of the regular season, when he felt his team had started to grasp the magnitude of the March atmosphere.

“I just think we’re playing at a different level right now, being connected,” Holloway observed. “No one’s worried about who’s getting the shot, no one’s worried about who’s getting to shine, no one’s worried about this or that. They’re just happy for each other, playing hard and just kind of figuring it out.”

“There’s no switch,” KC Ndefo added, saying that the team’s mentality had remained constant. “Since day one, when we first came into the NCAA Tournament, that was our mindset. So that’s what we came out and did every day, just tried to execute the game plan and contend and go for the win since day one.”

One game separates the small school from the big stage, and while the underdog readily admits it would normally not be its own party, they are intent on showing its intent to crash before actually kicking down the door.

“It’s unthinkable, unreal,” Ndefo said, summarizing what awaits the Peacocks. “Just to do this, to make history for this program, doing this for our fans and our family is just an unthinkable thing to do. It’s just a great thing. We’re just thriving off of it, and we’re going to keep this going. We want it more, and it shows on the court.”