Saint Peter's surprising basketball season ends with March Madness loss to Tennessee
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Two years ago, when Saint Peter’s embarked on an NCAA Tournament run for the ages, few fans outside of the northeast had ever heard of the school as it snuck up on the giants of the sport.
Now everyone knows who the Peacocks are, and in their return to the Big Dance on Thursday, their opponent left nothing to chance.
Tennessee dominated from the tip, slashing the tires of Cinderella’s carriage and sending New Jersey’s lone March Madness entrant home with a 83-49 loss in the Round of 64. The resounding verdict was a reminder of just how difficult and special the Peacocks' Elite Eight appearance was as a No. 15 seed.
“It goes to show how amazing that run was,” said Saint Peter’s point guard Latrell Reid, the lone holdover from the 2022 squad. “I know everybody was expecting something like that again, but it just goes to show how crazy this tournament is.”
Thursday night's slaughter is the fate that typically befalls a No. 15 seed. The reality was not lost on Peacocks head coach Bashir Mason, who was still coaching Wagner two years ago when Shaheen Holloway guided Saint Peter's past second-seeded Kentucky, a ranked Murray State squad, and Big Ten champion Purdue.
"As I'm walking down here just quickly reflecting on the game and just also thinking about the history of Saint Peter's, the run here, I'm reflecting on who they beat to make it to the Elite Eight," Mason said in the postgame press conference. "Then you think about what our game was like tonight, that run we did two years ago, that was impressive. That was really impressive for that to happen for a small school in Jersey City."
Not that this Saint Peter’s edition was expected to be back here so quickly. The Peacocks were projected to finish near the bottom of the MAAC in most preseason forecasts. They wound up with a record of 19-14 and a MAAC Tournament banner to hang.
In Thursday's postgame handshake line, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes gave Mason some valuable perspective.
"I just told him I think he's got a great future, and they've done a great job," Barnes said. "Getting to go this tournament is hard. When you get here, right now it's tough when you lose because, believe me, they came into this game expecting to win, and there's no doubt with what they had done two years ago, and with a team that got it going here at the end."
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
1. Brother vs. Brother
In the 1992 Sweet 16 in Philadelphia, Seton Hall coach P.J. Carlesimo famously gave freshman sub Danny Hurley a long run against powerhouse Duke so he could guard his All-America brother Bobby. The attempted psych-out did not work – Duke won without much trouble – but it was worth trying.
Fast-forward 32 years. Saint Peter’s brought freshman Armoni Zeigler off the bench against Tennessee, whose point guard is his half-brother Zakai Zeigler. They didn’t guard each other full time – Armoni is more of a two-guard, but they did mix it up a few times on the court.
Those encounters were all business, like they were total strangers – which is what you would expect in this situation. Zakai finished with 11 points and 10 assists, while Armoni went scoreless in his 16 minutes.
2. Latrell Reid's apology
Perhaps because he had experienced it all before, Reid was Saint Peter's best player against Tennessee. The Willingboro native and Trenton Catholic grad finished with a team-high 17 points, but he also got ejected after getting hit with two technical fouls.
At the end of the postgame press conference, Reid offered an unprompted apology.
"One last thing. I'm sorry for getting ejected today," Reid announced. "I'm a competitor, and I didn't mean for it to get the best of me today. That's just not who I am. I don't think I got a tech all year. We were jawing, and that's just what competitors do out there."
Things did get chippy, but Mason was grateful for Reid holding himself accountable.
"I call that 'character reveal,'" Mason said of the apology. "I thought we experienced some adversity early into the game, our emotions came out and didn't allow us to focus and play at the level that we're capable of."
3. Drame twins advanced
The 2022 Peacocks scattered into the transfer portal to mixed results at best, but Reid wasn’t the only one to return to the Dance this March.
Twin forwards Fousseyni Drame and Hassan Drame made it with Duquesne, and on Thursday afternoon Fousseyni tallied eight points and eight rebounds as the 11th-seeded Dukes took down sixth-seeded BYU 71-67, earning a second-round date with third-seeded Illinois on Saturday.
4. Peacocks fans traveled
As expected, Tennessee orange was the dominant color throughout the 19,000-seat Spectrum Center. However, a vocal contingent of a few hundred Peacocks fans made themselves heard early and often. It was a bit of a contrast with fellow metropolitan-area underdog Wagner, which had very few fans present for its afternoon loss to North Carolina.
It's apparent that Saint Peter’s 2022 run forged some die-hard fans for life.
"That's just Peacock nation right there: They show up, they show out," Reid said. "We're very happy that they did that, and we're very appreciative. They've been doing that all year. We forever have love for those guys."
Added teammate Marcus Randolph: "It means a lot. This is a great support system. We love to see it."
5. Kentucky flashback
Shortly before tip-off, as live footage from the final minutes of Kentucky’s loss to 13th-seeded Oakland aired on the hanging scoreboard, Tennessee fans throughout the arena erupted in delight. The SEC hatreds run deep; in the Big East, by contrast, programs pull for each other in the NCAA Tournament because success lifts the whole league financially and reputationally.
It also was a deju vu moment for Saint Peter’s, which two years ago launched its epic run by taking down another underachieving Wildcats squad. At the time, everyone knew that win special. Last night, against long odds, its legend grew.
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Saint Peter's basketball season ends with NCAA Tournament loss to Tennessee
