Sweet 16 recap: Saint Peter’s continues its amazing run

One of the biggest Cinderella stories in NCAA tournament history continued Friday night in the Sweet 16 when Saint Peter’s became the first No. 15 seed ever to advance to the Elite Eight.

The Peacocks, who were 16-11 overall and finished three games out of first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference during the regular season, outfought third-seeded Purdue 67-64 in an East Region semifinal. They’ll face eighth-seeded North Carolina in Sunday’s region final. Powered by Caleb Love, the Tar Heels scored the game’s final 10 points to oust fourth-seeded UCLA 73-66.

In the Midwest Region, top-seeded Kansas blew a big lead, then regrouped to beat fourth-seeded Providence 66-61. The Jayhawks are the lone No. 1 seed left in the tournament; there has been at least one No. 1 seed in every Elite Eight since the NCAA began seeding the field in 1979. Kansas will meet 10th-seeded Miami in the final; the Hurricanes beat 11th-seeded Iowa State 70-56 in the other region semifinal. This will be Miami’s first Elite Eight appearance.

But Saint Peter’s was the story of the night — and now of the tournament. Saint Peter’s was the third No. 15 to advance to the Sweet 16. In 2013, Florida Gulf Coast lost by 12 to Florida in a region semifinal. Last season, Oral Roberts lost by two to Arkansas. Conventional wisdom was that the Peacocks’ miracle run would end against a big, physical Purdue team. Indeed, the Boilermakers dominated the game’s first three minutes, jumping out to a 9-4 lead, thanks to a dunk and layup by 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey and a jumper by Jaden Ivey. But the Peacocks quickly regrouped and it was evenly matched the rest of the way. Saint Peter’s trailed 56-52 with 4:42 remaining before rallying and going 11-of-11 from the line in the final 4:02 to finish off the upset.

The Peacocks forced 15 Boilermakers turnovers, including six from Purdue star Ivey, who had one of his worst games of the season. Ivey finished with nine points, just his third game this season in single digits. But the Boilermakers won the other two by a combined 40 points. They needed the “normal” Ivey on Friday, but the Peacocks made sure he didn’t get many good looks and harassed him with their pesky on-ball defense. Purdue struggled big time from the perimeter, going 5-of-21 (23.8 percent). It was the Boilermakers’ third-worst percentage of the season from beyond the arc.

Nine Big Ten teams made the tournament, and all nine now are gone.

In North Carolina’s win, Love had 28 of his 30 points in the second half; he finished 6-of-13 from 3-point range. The Heels also did excellent work on the offensive boards, finishing with 15 offensive rebounds. UNC owned a 19-6 advantage in second-chance points. Love made more 3-pointers by himself than UCLA did as a team (five).