The 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s Peacocks on Thursday shocked the No. 2 seed Kentucky Wildcats with an 85-79 overtime win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Daryl Banks III produced a team-high 27 points to lead the Peacocks to their first-ever win in the NCAA Tournament. Doug Edert scored 15 of his 20 total points in the second half and overtime session to help Saint Peter’s become just the 10th No. 15 seed to beat a No. 2 seed.
The win marked one of the largest upsets in tournament history. Kentucky entered the contest favored by as many as 18.5 points by some sportsbooks and became just the fifth team ever to lose on a points spread that large since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
THANK YOU PEACOCK NATION!! SEE YOU SATURDAY NIGHT!!#StrutUp🦚 pic.twitter.com/bclLWelbKV
— Saint Peter's Men's Basketball (@PeacocksMBB) March 18, 2022
Kentucky came into the tournament as one of the teams thought to be in contention to win the title. They had emerged as one of the top programs this season and had all of the necessary pieces, including All-American Oscar Tshiebwe, who had 30 points and 15 rebounds, to get it done.
Instead, the loss will likely go down as the biggest in program history under head coach John Calipari. The Wildcats had won 30 consecutive games in the tournament against double-digit seeds as it was their first loss in the first round since Calipari took over in 2009.
The win by Saint Peter’s quickly took over social media as it instantly became the top trending topic on Twitter. NBA players from around the league were among those to weigh in on the result, including some former Wildcats players.