Saint Peter's started its NCAA magic by locking down on Kentucky and got to the Elite Eight with a win over Purdue Friday. (Vick Graff Photo)
The Saint Peter’s Peacocks just kept rolling and knocked off No. 3 seed Purdue 67-64 on National Peacock Day to make the Elite Eight — something no one would have thought of going into NCAA play when Saint Peter’s was a 19-point underdog against UK in game one.
Here is what Saint Peter’s coach Shaheen Holloway had to say after the historic win.
Q. There were a few times in that second half it seemed like you guys were on the ropes. Doug missed the front end of a one-on-one and then he missed a lay-up. What do you think it is about this team that you’re able to deal with adversity so well?
SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: You know, that’s what we’ve been the whole year. That’s who we are. We’re not a team that’s going to blow teams out. That’s not our DNA. We try to keep it close and try to make them make mistakes down the stretch. Once again, like I said — first of all let me say, Coach Painter is a great coach, great program. They do an unbelievable job. But when you’re playing against teams like that who’s supposed to win, when you keep it tight, certain things can happen. I told my guys just keep battling, keep battling, let’s see what happens. We kept battling, I knew the ball was going to bounce our way, and it did.
Q. KC Ndefo is the heart and soul of your team, he was kind of sidelined with foul trouble. I saw your reaction after he fouled out, obviously it wasn’t ideal for you guys, but you guys still kept up the defensive pressure. Is there anything strategically you have to change when he goes out or is it next man up for you guys?
SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: Like I said, that’s why if you’ve been following us throughout this whole tournament, I always let our six guys who start our program come up and do interviews. Those guys are the heart and soul of our program, the five juniors and KC. So when KC fouled out, the other twin was up, and that’s kind of what was going on the whole year. Yeah, did we miss KC’s intensity? But when you bring the twins in there, they are a different type of you-know-what.
Q. Did you think you were going to be able to keep up that ball pressure all game? It’s tough to go man-to-man like that, trapping and —
SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: No, that’s who we are. I played 10 guys, wasn’t very happy with the way the second group was playing so I kind of took them out, but we played 10 guys and we’ve been wearing teams down the whole year.
Q. Yesterday Eric Musselman of Arkansas said he spliced videos of his team being doubted to prepare for Gonzaga. Did you do anything as a double-digit seed to prepare your guys?
SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: No, Coach is a great coach. No, I’m not into all that stuff. We just go out there and we play, do what we do, don’t worry about the noise and just play basketball.
Q. Just to follow up on the defensive performance, your team has played great defense a number of times, especially in this tournament, but given the situation, tonight, given their size in the post, is this as good of a defensive game as you have seen them play?
SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: You know what, I’m going to say no. If you watched us play the last month, like we’ve been locked in. Like really locked in. Teams in our league are really good. Their guys are prepared for this moment. But we’ve been locked in. It wasn’t one of our best defensive performances. I know you might say I’m crazy for saying that, but if you watched us play, then you would know that it’s not.
Q. You’ve spoken about how the COVID break kind of helped you guys conditioning-wise. What was it like to ramp them back up from literally being sick and how much is it paying off now with their conditioning?
SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: It was everything to us. We’ve had a chance to get like a mini camp. We didn’t play in 28 days so they got a chance to go out there and — especially for me, things wasn’t going well in the first half of the season. It got me a chance to really change some things around, go back and watch film and get back to the drawing board. No, the break was everything for us.
Q. It seemed like all of Jersey City was in this building tonight. What do you want to say to the people who came down to support you?
SHAHEEN HOLLOWAY: No, you don’t understand. First of all, my phone, I had to turn it off. Everybody wanted tickets. I can’t get tickets for everybody. I’ll tell you what, man, I can’t believe the support that we’re having. This is unbelievable. Jersey City has been unbelievable for us. But I want to give a shout-out to our student-athletes and the whole student body. They’re taking buses down here, they’re doing videos, watch party. It’s been tremendous. I’m happy for the school and the community and everybody involved. It’s been great.
Going back to the shirt thing, that’s something that we wanted to do. That’s what we believe in, right, so we kind of do — Adidas sent it to us, and we thank them for that.
3 Responses
I like this coach of Saint.Peters he’s just a lay back coach and let his players played through the system that he installed for the players go through.
The kids at St. Peters play as a team. Sure, they would like to play in the NBA some day, but they don’t let that distract them from playing as a team. No OAD superstars here. Just good kids who play hard and smart and a good coach. This is what basketball at Kentucky used to look like before Calipari arrived. Maybe it will come back when Calipari gets fired.
Cal will not be fire, but I do think he will have more pressure on him next season than he’s ever had to get the cats back on track.