No. 8 seed Carolina plays No. 15 Saint Peter’s on Sunday, March 27, in the East
Regional final in Philadelphia. Tip time is approximately 5:05 p.m. (CBS) at the Wells
Fargo Center.
This is the first time the Tar Heels will be playing against Saint Peter’s. Carolina’s most recent game vs. a team from the MAAC was an 88-73 win over Iona on 3/22/2019 in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. This is Carolina’s 28th regional final and 30th time in the NCAA Tournament round of eight.
The Tar Heels are 20-7 in NCAA regional finals, including wins in their last two in 2016 in Philadelphia and 2017 in Memphis. This is Carolina’s second time in a regional final as an eight seed (also in 2000, when the Tar Heels beat No. 7 Tulsa in Austin, Texas, to advance to the Final Four).
About UNC
- Carolina advanced to the Elite 8 with a 73-66 win over UCLA. Caleb Love scored 20 of UNC’s final 29 points, and 27 of his career-high 30 in the second half, to lead the Tar Heels, who won for the fourth time in 13 games this season when trailing at the half.
- The win over UCLA was Carolina’s 129th in NCAA Tournament play, tying Kentucky for the most all-time.
- Since seeding began in 1979, the Tar Heels have played a double-digit seed one time in a regional final, defeating No. 10 Temple in the Meadowlands in 1991.
- Should Carolina defeat Saint Peter’s, the Tar Heels would advance to the Final Four for the 21st time and play the winner of the West Regional.
- Carolina’s 20 Final Four appearances are the most in NCAA Tournament history.
- Carolina’s three wins in the 2022 NCAA Tournament include a 95-63 win over No. 9 seed Marquette, a 93-86 overtime win over No. 1 seed Baylor, and the 73-66 win over No. 4 seed UCLA.
- Carolina’s win over 11th-ranked UCLA was the Tar Heels’ fourth as an unranked team over a ranked opponent this season (also beat No. 24 Michigan, No. 4 Duke and No. 4 Baylor). It’s the most wins by an unranked UNC team over ranked opponents since winning four times in 2002-03.
- Armando Bacot leads Carolina in scoring (16.4), rebounding (12.6), field goal percentage (.588) and blocks (61). He also led UNC in those categories last season. No Tar Heel has ever led in those four categories in consecutive seasons and no other Tar Heel has ever reached all four of those numbers in one season.
- Brady Manek, a 6-9 sharp-shooting power forward, has scored 20 or more points in five of the last seven games, including his two highest scoring games as a Tar Heel with 28 against Marquette in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and 26 in round two against Baylor.
- Carolina has three players with 50 or more threes this season for the just the fourth time in history. Brady Manek leads with 88, Caleb Love has 87 and RJ Davis 64.
- Sophomores RJ Davis and Caleb Love have started every game together in the backcourt this season except Senior Night, and are both averaging more than 33 minutes per game. Davis and Love have combined for 29.2 points and 7.4 assists per game.
About St. Peter’s
- Coming off historic wins over #2 Kentucky, #7 Murray State and #3 Purdue in the first three rounds of the NCAA Tournament, the Saint Peter’s men’s basketball team returns to action in the Elite 8, taking on the University of North Carolina Sunday inside the Wells Fargo Center.
- The Peacocks come into the matchup with the nation’s longest win streak, winning each of its last 10 games after knocking off Murray State 67-64 in the Sweet 16. UNC, meanwhile, took down #4 UCLA 73-66 in its Sweet 16 matchup Saturday.
- As they have already done multiple times this postseason, SPU made more history by becoming the first No. 15 seed in NCAA March Madness history to advance to the Elite Eight after taking down third-seeded Purdue, 67-64, in the Sweet 16 on Friday night at Wells Fargo Center.
- The Peacocks were led offensively by three players in double figures, including Daryl Banks III — who finished with 14 points — while freshman and Philadelphia native Clarence Rupert produced 11 points, all in the first half, while junior Doug Edert dropped 11 off the bench.
- After nearly a month between games from Dec. 18 to Jan. 14, SPU has gone 19-5 in the 2022 calendar year to win the MAAC title and advance to the Elite 8 for the first time in program history.
- KC Ndefo is the anchor of the Peacocks as he heads into the contest averaging 10.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.7 blocks, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game this season. He was named Second Team All-MAAC and is now the three-time defending MAAC Defensive Player of the Year.
- Banks III leads the Peacocks offensively overall on the season averaging 11.5 points per game this season. Banks has scored in double figures 20 times this season with 14 of those performances coming against MAAC opponents including in eight of the last 11 contests.
- SPU heads into the contest with one of the top defenses in the NCAA, leading the MAAC and ranking 19th in DI allowing just 62.3 points per game.
- After the win over Fairfield on Friday, Feb. 18, SPU won its 10th MAAC contest for the third consecutive season. It is the first time the Peacocks have won double-digit conference contests in three straight seasons since 1986-89.
- The 22 wins this season for SPU is the most since racking up 23 wins in the 2016-17 season when they won the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
Game Info
Time: 5:05 p.m. (ET)
TV: TBS (Ian Eagle, Jim Spanarkel, Jamie Erdahl)
Stream: NCAA.com
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Properties (Jones Angell, Eric Montross, Adam Lucas)
Per Release