Saint Peter's Peacocks Cinderella run continues as they get set to take on the North Carolina Tarheels
JERSEY CITY, N.J. - Saint Peter's Cinderella run in the NCAA tournament isn't over yet.
Friday night, the team scored another upset victory, beating the Purdue Boilermakers in the Sweet 16.
They now advance to the Elite Eight for the first time ever.
As CBS2's Christina Fan reports, it's called a Cinderella story because it's like they're living in a fairy tale. The most improbable team pulled off another impossible win.
All tournament long, the Saint Peters Peacocks have turned doubt into fuel, beating Kentucky, Murray State, and now Purdue.
The team not only booked a date to their first-ever Elite Eight, they've reset the standard for upset runs. Over eight decades and thousands of NCAA tournament games, no 15 seed has ever advanced this far.
On the biggest stage, the smallest school displayed their true colors in full bloom.
Saint Peter's is already starting to feel the financial impact of this fairy tale run. In just one week, merchandise sales at the campus store were more than double what they were all of last semester.
As CBS2's Steve Overmyer reports, you would have expected the team to be exhausted Saturday from the previous night's celebrations, but they've maintained focus. They're not patting themselves on the back for remarkable upsets; they're expecting more.
Every game, they've been the underdog, yet in every game they've been the aggressors, not giving an inch and stifling some of the best teams in the nation. They're not a flashy team filled with superstars; they're a team that wears you down and never gives up.
Friday night, after the game, coach Shaheen Holloway made reference to their lack of respect by saying, "What they gonna say now?"
Saturday, he expounded on that thought.
"You hear all these stories about, you know, why we shouldn't be here, and my thing is every year a team like us is here. So it's just, it's one of those stories, it's a great story, yes, it's a Cinderella story. It's great that the whole country's behind us, right? You know, that's kind of what the NCAA Tournament's all about," he said.
It's not often a team thrives during a disruption, but Saint Peter's did just that this year. Their turnaround may be credited in part to COVID.
Back in December, the Peacocks had to pause the season for 26 days, one of the longest pauses in the nation.
Saint Peter's turnaround may be in part thanks to COVID pause
In that time, Holloway reworked the lineup, refocused the team on defense and even introduced the matchup zone defense. It invigorated the team, who found a new appreciation for playing D, but most importantly, he didn't send the players home for rest. He kept the team together, which made all the difference.
"For the last two years, I didn't let my guys go home because of COVID because I wanted to have a season, so we were together for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's. When you start spending time like that and it's real and it's genuine, a bond happens, a connection happens. Like, we spend more time with each other than we spend with our families," Holloway said.
As CBS2's Thalia Perez reports, Saint Peter's spirit was on full display at City Hall in Jersey City, the building bathed in Peacock blue.
At McGinley Square Pub, located just steps from Saint Peter's campus, it was the calm before the storm. The crowd went wild while celebrating their historic win Friday, and Sunday's bar crowd will watch the Peacocks take on the North Carolina Tarheels.
The growing excitement seems to be contagious.
"I don't even watch sports, and because of this, it kinda got me into it. It's pretty awesome, like, the whole town, you know, being together," bartender Victoria Zelma said.
"I am going to the game. I just got a ticket an hour ago. I can't wait. I'm so excited," student Tommy Fennelly said.
The only place to watch the game is on CBS2 Sunday at 5 p.m.
