Written by :
Published on :
The Saint Peter's vs. Purdue game should be Boilermakers -15.5.
The Pelicans were facing off against Murray State Saturday evening. They are the tournament's big Cinderella story, at least ahead of the Murray State game.
Saint Peter's knocked off mighty number 2 seed Kentucky in the first round.
The tiny Jesuit school from Jersey City, New Jersey, got 27 points from Daryl Banks III as it took down basketball royalty, beating second-seeded Kentucky 85-79 in overtime and sending countless brackets into the digital wastebasket.
“It was an amazing feeling,” Banks said. “You grow up you watching March Madness, the tournament, so to let that sink in — knowing the game was over — it felt really good.”
The Peacocks became the 10th No. 15 seed to win a first-round game since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 and handed Kentucky its first opening-round loss under coach John Calipari.
“At the end of the day, every team that made it to the NCAA Tournament deserves to be here. Every team that made it to the NCAA Tournament believes they can advance. It’s about this night,” Saint Peter's coach Shaheen Holloway said.
Saint Peter's will pay a sick $100,000 or greater on a $100 bet with a championship win. New Jersey residents are mostly deprived from being able to bet their home state team unless they use a local or the small number of offshore books that allow NJ gamblers.
Purdue, which came into their Sunday game against Texas promising a $1400 payout on a $100 bet to win the Championship, delivered Yale a 78-56 beatdown in the first round.
Jayden Ivey, one of the fastest players in college basketball, scored 22 points and went 3 for 6 from 3-point range and 7 for 9 at the free-throw line in 27 minutes. The 7-foot-4 Edey made the most of his size advantage against the Ivy League champions, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds in 19 minutes.
“On the rebounds, I felt like I could just kind of get it over them,” Edey said.
No kidding. Yale coach James Jones inserted 6-8 EJ Jarvis into his starting lineup, looking for a bigger body to help with Purdue’s size. But it had little effect.
“Have you seen anybody in your life as big as (Edey) is?” Jones said. “Other than Yao Ming, I've seen nobody as big as he is. He is the second-largest man I've ever seen.”
Purdue is 12-0 Straight Up this season in non-conference games. They have gone 131-32 (80.4%) Straight Up as a favorite since 2016 but are just 14-23-2 (37.8%) Against The Spread as an away favorite over that span.
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
