PHILADELPHIA (AP) — America’s favorite misfit, Saint Peter’s, shouldn’t be feeling too bad. North Carolina has shattered many dreams over the decades.
The Tar Heels ended all hopes of a March Madness miracle early Sunday, taking 20 points and 22 rebounds from Armando Bacot in a wire-to-wire 69-49 breakaway over 15th-seeded St. Peter.
Eighth-seeded Carolina (28-9) set her record 21st Final Four and this will be a scene like no other. Next Saturday in New Orleans it’s North Carolina against arch-rival Duke and his soon-to-retire coach Mike Krzyzewski. Three weeks ago, the Tar Heels shattered another fairy tale in a 94-81 win over the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium – Coach K’s final home game.
“We want Duke! We want Duke! We want Duke!” shouted Tar Heels fans as the team cut the nets in Philly, the same city where Carolina won Region East in 2016.
“I don’t think anything can be as crazy as preparing for this game in Cameron,” said coach Hubert Davis. “We just keep our eyes straight and ignore all the noise.”
While Coach K’s winding road to retirement was beautiful to behold this March, nothing during this NCAA tournament captured the imagination more than Saint Peter’s run.
The total basketball budget for this rowdy Jersey City, NJ group is $1.6 million — or about $400,000 less than what Davis makes in a year. The first-year coach sobbed as his players enveloped him after the buzzer.
“It was something I just desperately wanted for her,” Davis said. “That’s probably the biggest nervousness I’ve had before a game because I just wanted them to go to the Final Four.”
Two nights earlier, the Peacocks (21-12) looked like Final Four material. They beat Purdue to become the first 15 seeds to advance to an Elite Eight.
Their hopes quickly ended in this one. They’re hardly the first team to see big plans from one of the country’s most important energy programs being scuttled.
“I didn’t really recognize my team for the first 10 minutes of the game,” said Peacocks coach Shaheen Holloway.
After Carolina’s Leaky Black missed a free throw in 2 1/2 minutes, Bacot intervened for the offensive rebound and an easy putback. This gave Carolina a 7-0 lead. In his three tournament victories over Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue, Saint Peter’s has had no more than six.
The Peacocks, whose 10-game winning streak ended, moved the ball well and got some looks in the first 10 minutes. Some shots went halfway down and rimmed. Others rattled around the iron but didn’t fall off. They were down 21-7 after missing their first six shots and 16 of their first 19.
Late in the first half, Daryl Banks III tumbled into what appeared to be a windmill jam. It was rejected – from the front of the rim. It made the Peacocks 5 for 27 that night, and when Bacot dipped on the next possession, North Carolina led 36-15.
Fousseyni Drame led St Peter with 12 points and KC Ndefo had 10.
The previous weekend, North Carolina had taken a 25-point lead against Baylor, only to watch everything melt away before the game ended in overtime. That was where the turning point came when Brady Manek was kicked out for an accidental elbow throw. No such drama this time, although Manek ended that game on the touchline too – having scored 19 points and watching trash time from the bench.
It was an emotional night for Davis, who replaced Roy Williams, the coach who led the Tar Heels to five Final Fours in 18 years and cheered for him from the stands. Now, 51-year-old Davis joins the likes of Ray Meyer, Steve Fisher, Denny Crum and another tar heel, Bill Guthridge, as coaches who achieved the sport’s greatest step in their rookie year.
“It’s hard to believe or understand, but it’s really not about me at all,” Davis said. “I was a coach in the Final Four. I played at Carolina. I played in the NBA. It’s not my time, it’s her time.”
Were it not for St. Peter, North Carolina might be this tournament’s underdog story. A long time ago when in 1985 another 8 seeds shocked the world. It was Rollie Massimino’s Villanova team from 1985.
Then again, these are the Tar Heels. You’ve been playing as well as anyone for more than a month.
When they won at Duke on March 5, they threw in a wet towel over what was to be a celebration of Coach K’s last home game. On Sunday, they destroyed another one of those so-called “perfect” storylines.
But that’s more than a consolation prize for college hoops: Next, UNC and Duke meet for their 258th time — and never before with such high stakes.
“That’s a good question, but I can’t answer it right now,” Bacot said when asked to put the upcoming game in perspective. “The coach gets mad at me.”
MONSTER GAME
Bacot was named the region’s most outstanding player. His 22 rebounds equaled a career high and also a Carolina tournament record Tyler Zeller held against Ohio in 2012. In the two games, Bacot had 34 points and 37 rebounds.
STORY
Davis joined Dick Harp of Kansas as the only player to play for his alma mater, then led them to the Final Four in their freshman year as head coach. Harp also served on Dean Smith’s staff when Davis and the Tar Heels reached the 1991 Final Four.
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