Princeton is the latest 15 seed to make the Sweet 16

For the fourth time in the history of the men’s NCAA tournament, a 15-man team will participate in the second weekend. The Princeton Tigers, who stunned the 2-seed Arizona Wildcats in their opener in the South Region, put in quite a performance in their second act. Princeton throttled Missouri in a Tigers battle, 78-63, to redeem their ticket to the Sweet 16.

As is often the case with surprises in the tournament, the big equalizer was the three-point line. While those two teams didn’t shy away from letting it fly from the deep, Princeton Missouri doubled in made threes and hit 12 to the SEC team’s six. Ryan Langborg led the way as 12 of his powerful 22 points came to three. Blake Peters added another 17 points from the bench, hitting five of his eight shots from three.

The win adds Princeton to the list of rosters making it to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament despite being the 15th seed in the field. The first team to make it was the Florida Gulf Coast team affectionately known as “Dunk City” in 2013, followed by Oral Roberts in 2021 and Saint Peter’s last year. Of those three teams, only the Peacocks made it to the Elite 8, where they lost to eventual national runners-up North Carolina.

The Tigers will now wait until tomorrow to find out who they will end up playing against. Princeton meets the winner of the 3-6 matchup between Baylor and Creighton.