Missouri upset by 15-seed Princeton as NCAA Tournament Cinderella run continues
Missouri is the latest casualty of this year’s NCAA Tournament Cinderella.
Princeton, a 15-seed that upset 2-seed Arizona on Thursday, went out and did it again at Golden1 Center in Sacramento on Saturday. Tiger guards Ryan Langborg and Blake Peters combined for 39 points as Princeton upset 7-seed Missouri 78-63 to advance to the Sweet 16 and end Mizzou’s season.
The 15-point win marked the largest by a 15-seed in the history of the NCAA Tournament.
Princeton’s win over Arizona on Thursday was rather unremarkable. The Tigers shot 41% from the floor. They only connected on 4 of their 25 3-pointers (16%). They only took 5 free throws all game. And they had just 9 assists against 11 turnovers.
Their win over Mizzou on Saturday was, in many respects, a perfect game. They connected on 12 of their 33 triples (36%). Mizzou made only 6, leading to an 18-point edge on the shot that equalizes everything. Princeton’s ball security was night-and-day, with 16 assists against only 9 turnovers. It made 12 of its 15 free throws, too.
And at the heart of everything was Princeton forward Caden Pierce, who recorded 16 rebounds. The 6-foot-6 freshman averaged 7.1 boards a game this season.
He had 7 of Princeton’s 16 offensive rebounds as the Tigers dominated Missouri on the boards. They won the rebounding battle 44-30 overall, and turned those 16 offensive boards into 19 second-chance points. Missouri had 2 on 8 offensive rebounds.
Princeton matched Mizzou punch for punch when the game opened, then started pairing stops with consecutive buckets as it built what was a 14-point lead at one juncture in the first half.
Mizzou closed the opening frame on a 7-0 run to get it to single digits at the half, but a 7-2 run to open the second half pushed the margin back to 12.
Twice, Missouri fought to get back within 7. Each time, Princeton had an answer.
A bucket from DeAndre Gholston (19 points) with 10:02 to play brought Mizzou within 7, only to be immediately met with a 10-0 run from Princeton. The lead got as large as 21 as Missouri was unable to match buckets with Princeton. Langborg scored 22 for Princeton while Peters added 17 on 5-of-8 shooting from 3.
Missouri ended the game shooting 41% from the field and just 6-for-22 from 3-point range (27%). Noah Carter added 14 points while Kobe Brown scored 12 points and grabbed 7 boards.
DaFuq Mizzou?
Bad time to lay an egg, but overall, Missouri had a very good season. The Cinderella story continues for Princeton.
Dang Mizz. Ugly.
Ugly loss, but not a bad year for Mizzou overall considering recent history. I didn’t expect Mizzou to go much further anyway, but would have liked the SEC to go undefeated today. My bracket sucks right now, but I have 7 of 8 of elite picks still in it and I have Auburn over Houston.
Yeah, that was ugly. Gotta remind myself that it was still a helluva first season turnaround for Gates and co.
Not your best game but well played inside. Princeton is a 3-point dependent shooting team and this is the type of team that could have beaten man very good teams, TN included. Tough out but what a great season for Mizzou in your coach’s early tenure. Outshot but you didn’t get out-played.
Drink and Gates have big learning curves in front of them. Will either one of them be able to swallow their pride and hire the help they desperately need. Good men I think but their time is not unlimited, their peers are also on learning curves. Staff members are not the only way to learn but longevity favors those who learn the fastest and hire-find the best help. The talent they are getting needs detailed training and will win big if the teaching is big. I can definitely see both of them in the future top 10% of their profession but gents, you have to step on the gas pedal of great coaching.
Gates put together a makeshift team of transfers. Didn’t do a bad job with it. Now that he’s shown some results with that team, we’ll see if his recruiting can pick up and he can keep people from transferring.
Tough loss. Congrats on a great season!