SACRAMENTO, Caąµ²lif. ā As the final minute ticked off the clock, the Princeton fans started chanting āSweet 16! Sweet 16!ā and coach Mitch Henderson cleared the bench with the victory easiš¦ly in hand.
This upset was no small-school fluke against a more heralded team. It was a thoroughly dominating performance that sent Princeton to a place it hadn’t been in more than a half-century.
Blake Peters made five 3-pointerą²s in the second half and Princeton shocked another power conference team to reach the NCAA Tournament regional semifinals for the first time in 56 years by beating Missouri 78-63 on Saturday.
āThe world looks at us as two upsets,ā forward Tosan Evbuomwan said. “But I feel like weāre supposed to be here. We have a lot of confidence in one another, what weāre doing. Thereās definitely no letup with this group.ā
The No. 15 seeded Princeton (23-8) followed up a first-round win over Pac-12 tournament champion Arizona by overwhelming 10th seeded Missouri (25-10) of the Southeastern Coź¦Ænference fš¦©rom the start.
The Ivy League schź¦ ool known for giving powerhouses scares and occasionally pulling off upsets a generation ago hasšø reached the round of 16 for the first time since 1967 when only 23 teams even made the tournament.
āI have no words for you,ā Peters said. āWe have such an unbelievable section (of fans) here. I have the best teammates in the world. I love eaš ch and every one of them. when we go out and believe in each other, anything is possibź§le. I know itās cliche, but anything is possible.ā
Princeton will playš¤” the winner of Sundayāsš„ game between Baylor and Creighton in the Sweet 16 in Louisville, Kentucky, on Friday night.
The Tigers will be the second Ivy League school to make the Sweet 16 in the past 43 tournaments, joining Cornell in 2010.š No team from the academically prestigious league that doesnāt give athletic scholarships has gone further since Penn made the Final Four in 1979.
āIāve always dreamed of playing deep into the tournament,ā said Henderson, a player on PrinšÆcetonās teams in 1996 and ā98 that won first-round games. āAs a player, got to the second round a couplāe times. Never got beyond it.ā
This marks the third straight year a team seeded 15th made it to the Sweet 16, following Oral Roberts in 2021 and fellow New Jersey school Saint Peter’s last year. The only other time a 15 seed made it this far came in 2012 when Florida Gulf Coast did it.
Ryan Langborg led Princeton with 22 pšoints and š¦©Peters added 17.
DeAndre Gholston scored 19 points and Noah Carter addedšŖ 14 for Missouri, which was seeking its first bešrth in the Sweet 16 since 2009.
āWe were able to get the lead one tšime,ā coach Dennis Gates sš“aid. āWe held the lead for 30 seconds in the entire game. Every time we got the lead or when they had the lead, we cut it to six, they came back down and did what a good team would do: Make a shot or make a play.ā
Princeton showed no signs of being outclassed against anotheš¤”r power conference team, controlling the play from the start. Keeshawn Kellman had two dunks and a blocked shot in a span of 16 seconds midway through the half.
Princeton built the lead to 10 points on a corner 3 by Zach Martini and went up 33-19 on a drive by Evbuomwšan.
Missouri responded by scoring the final sevšen points of the half to go into the break dāown seven.
Every time Missouri threatened earlšy in the second half, Princeton had an answer with Peters hitting five 3-pointers. The fourth gave Princeton a 62-43 lead and Missouri never threatened after that.
āBlake Peą± ters has been making shots coming off the bench for us for weeks,ā Henderson said. āThis is a very, very confident group. We are so thrilled to be going to the Sweet 16. It is an absolute pleasure being around these guys. They just grit their teeth and they do it.ā