PHILADELPHIA — Monmouth played Saint Peter's three times this season, which in a way is like saying North Carolina should be prepared for the first No. 15 seed to ever reach the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight.
UNC coach Hubert Davis played with both Monmouth head coach King Rice and assistant coach J.R. Reid at Carolina. It's like having a ready-made scouting report for what the Tar Heels (27-9) will face when the teams tipoff about 5 p.m. on Sunday for the right to advance to the Final Four in New Orleans.
"I haven't had any conversations with them yet, but King and J.R. are two of my best friends," Davis said. "And our relationship when we played and our enjoyment of playing together, but not just playing together as teammates but just our relationship, and I'm sure that we'll have conversations."
Davis added that former UNC forward Walker Miller, who transferred to Monmouth this season, stopped by UNC's team meal on Saturday before they beat UCLA in the Sweet 16.
Monmouth lost all three meetings with Saint Peter's this season, all in close games. The Hawks lost 67-62 and 70-65 in the regular season, and 60-54 in the Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament championship game.
Rice spoke to The News & Observer after Saint Peter's upset No. 2 seed Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament's first round and said he wasn't at all surprised by their win.
"That's what they do to you, man, they really guard you and they make you beat them," Rice said. "I thought, I've seen that game before. And then (SPU coach Shaheen Holloway) got them on the spot when he went zone and you could tell Kentucky hadn't played against a lot of zone. That's the stuff you got to do when you're at this level, you gotta throw some curveballs sometimes."
Here's a look at the matchup, which is scheduled to tip about 5 p.m. and will be broadcast on CBS:
Which players should UNC focus on?
Saint Peter's doesn't have a list of players who have overwhelming individual numbers. The Peacocks' leading scorers Daryl Banks III and KC Ndefo average 11.5 and 10.5 points, respectively.
What they have is a bunch of players who can make 3-pointers. Saint Peter's has five players who shot 34% or better from behind the arc, and another two who are shooting 31%.
Banks erupted for a career-high 27 points against Kentucky thanks in part to 5-for-8 shooting from 3.
Doug Edert, who secured a NIL deal with Buffalo Wild Wings after the Peacocks made the Sweet 16, leads the team percentage-wise shooting 42.2% from 3. Edert had 20 points against the Wildcats.
Carolina's focus defensively could mimic how it played Virginia Tech. The post players got individual coverage without double teaming in order to allow its perimeter defenders to prevent open 3s.
Who's Carolina's best bet for a big game?
The Peacocks had trouble handling Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe, a 6-foot-9, 255-pound forward, on the post. Tshiebwe scored 30 points on 11-for-16 shooting and added 16 rebounds.
That would seem to bode well for UNC forward Armando Bacot, who is listed at 6-foot-10, 240 pounds. Bacot is coming off a 14-point, 15-rebound performance against UCLA. One more double-double and he'll tie Tim Duncan (1996-97 season) for the most in ACC history with 29.
Saint Peter's simply doesn't have the size inside to stop Bacot. They'll counter with 6-foot-8 freshman Clarence Rupert and 6-foot-10 sophomore Oumar Diahame.
Common ground
The common opponents for Carolina and Saint Peter's had very different results. UNC played both Purdue and Kentucky early in the season with two players in the rotation that are no longer playing. Both of the Peacocks' games came in the NCAA Tournament.
The Tar Heels suffered their worst loss of the season to Kentucky in a 98-69 on Dec. 18 in Las Vegas. UK scored 54 points in the paint, which tied the season-high allowed by UNC, led by guard Sahvir Wheeler's 26 points.
The Peacocks recorded arguably their best win in program history by knocking off the No. 2 seed Wildcats, 85-79, in overtime in the NCAA Tournament's first round.
The Heels lost to Purdue, 93-84, on Nov. 20 at the Hall of Fame Tipoff in Uncasville, Conn., in just their fourth game of the year. Carolina was led by forward Dawson Garcia, who scored a season-high 26 points, but is no longer with the team. It was arguably the worst game Bacot played all season, as he was limited to two points and five rebounds battling foul trouble before eventually fouling out.
Saint Peter's beat Purdue, 67-64, in the Sweet 16 as it limited guard Jaden Ivey, who scored 22 points with 10 rebounds against Carolina, to nine points. It was just the third time this season Ivey didn't reach double figures.
"At the end of the day, they've beaten two teams that we've lost to," Davis said. "So as I said before, (Sunday) will be our toughest game of the season, but we're very excited about the challenge of playing an excellent Saint Peter's team."
