NCAA Tournament - Princeton’s cinderella run continues with win over Missouri

Yahoo Sports college basketball writer Nick Bromberg takes you through 15-seed Princeton’s shockingly dominant win over 7-seed Missouri in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Video Transcript

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NICK BROMBERG: Princeton is the third number 15 seed to make the Sweet 16 in as many years. The Tigers easily beat Missouri 78-63 on Saturday to advance to the third round of the men's NCAA tournament for the first time since 1965 and the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1967.

Princeton absolutely dominated a week rebounding Missouri team on the glass. Princeton entered the game 11th in the country in rebounds per game. Those rebounds led to a lot of second chance points for Princeton, as Missouri switched to a zone in the second half in an attempt to get back into the game. And as soon as Missouri would cut Princeton's lead to 2 possessions, the Ivy League champions would respond to keep the game out of reach.

Florida Gulf Coast became the first 15 seed in the modern era to make the Sweet 16 in 2013 and Oral Roberts was the second in 2021. St. Peter's became the first 15 to make the Elite Eight a season ago when it beat Purdue in the Sweet 16, before losing to North Carolina.

Princeton also shot much better from 3 against Mizzou than it did against Arizona. After making just four 3's against the Wildcats, Tigers made 12 against Missouri. Mizzou Meanwhile, was called from behind the arc and couldn't force any turnovers. That's been a bad recipe all season long.

Missouri didn't score fewer than 66 points in any of its 25 wins all season and scored more than 66 in just two of its 10 losses. Princeton was also a very small pick to make the Sweet 16 in Yahoo's Tourney Pick 'Em. Less than 2% of users had Princeton heading to the third round.