The Cinderella story of March Madness is the Saint Peter’s Peacocks.
The 15-seed upset traditional power Kentucky in the first round, before knocking off Murray State in the Round of 32 over the weekend. The Peacocks face No. 3-seeded Purdue in an East Region semifinal Friday.
They are the lowest seed remaining in the tournament and the lone non-Power 5 school of the four double-digit seeds advancing to the Sweet 16.
Here are four things to know about the Saint Peter’s Peacocks:
Their head coach has his own history on a Cinderella team
Saint Peter’s head coach Shaheen Holloway played his college basketball at Seton Hall. The Pirates were not as low of a seed as this year’s Peacocks squad, but they were underdogs as a 10-seed. Holloway hit a game-winning layup in overtime just to escape the first round over Oregon, before Seton Hall knocked off No. 2-seeded Temple for a Sweet 16 berth.
What’s with their home arena name?
The team plays their home games at Run Baby Run Arena in Jersey City, N.J. But why is it called that? Well, Thomas MacMahon, a former player, donated $5 million as part of a renovation project in 2020. And with it, the arena received a new name and one that referenced the late 1967-68 team that MacMahon played on at Saint Peter’s.
Run Baby Run was the nickname for that season’s team for their high-scoring offense that went reached the semifinals of the NIT Tournament with a victory over Duke in the quarterfinals.
The ‘Stache goes viral
If advancing to the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed wasn’t enough to garner attention, there’s Doug Edert’s mustache going viral in the last week. Edert’s popularity on the national stage soared by scoring 20 points off the bench in the overtime victory over Kentucky in the first round. That included the game-tying shot to force OT.
CBS Sports reported during the second-round game versus Murray State that Edert’s mustache even has its own social media account now.
It got started when COVID-19 prevented Edert and his teammates from getting haircuts at the barber shop and relying on teammate Matthew Lee to cut their hair, according to BroBible.
Edert was left with just the mustache from his facial hair during a January visit and it was supposed to be a temporary look until he scored 21 points in the following game.
“I said, ‘Maybe the mustache is giving me powers,’ ” Edert told The Athletic. “And now it’s everywhere. I never thought this was going to happen, but it’s just hilarious. There’s a lot of memes, a lot of pictures online. I’m rocking with it. I love it. It’s a part of me now.”
His father told The Athletic “the ‘stache is cash.”
Edert’s soaring popularity into March Madness folklore has yielded a NIL deal with Buffalo Wild Wings, which he announced on Instagram.
Going for 10
Saint Peter’s is looking for its 10th straight victory of the season when the Peacocks play Purdue on Friday. Their appearance in the Sweet 16 is a program first as is winning a tournament game, something that had not done prior to defeating Kentucky.
During the current nine-game winning streak, the Peacocks have seen four different players lead them in scoring. Edert paced them in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title game, while senior KC Ndefo and Daryl Banks III have tallied multiple high-scoring games for the Peacocks. Lee also led the team in scoring for one game during the streak.
It’s a stark contrast to how the season began, with Saint Peter’s going 3-6 before the calendar flipped to 2022.
