No. 15 Seed Men's Basketball to Open NCAA Tournament Against No. 2 Seed Arizona

Game 30: Princeton (21-8, 10-4) vs. No. 8 Arizona (28-6, 14-6) - 3/16, 4:10 p.m. ET/1:10 p.m. PT
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PRINCETON, N.J. – The No. 15 seed Princeton University men's basketball team begins play in the 2023 NCAA Tournament against No. 2 seed Arizona on Thursday, March 16, at 4:10 p.m. ET/1:10 p.m. PT inside the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. The Wildcats were ranked No. 8 in the most recent Associated Press (AP) Poll.

Back to the NCAA Tournament
The Tigers make their 26th NCAA Tournament appearance, and first since 2017 when the 12th-seeded Tigers took on No. 5 seed Notre Dame in Buffalo, New York, in a contest that saw the Irish come out on top, 60-58.

Ivy Tournament Champions
Princeton punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Ivy League Tournament. The No. 2 seed Tigers took down top-seeded Yale in the final, 74-65, after downing No. 3 seed Pennsylvania, 77-70, in the semifinals.

Most Outstanding Player & All-Tournament Team
Tosan Evbuomwan was named Most Outstanding Player and to the All-Tournament Team at Ivy Madness, after he averaged 21.0 points-per-game on 54.8% shooting along 5.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists. Caden Pierce was also an All-Tournament Team honoree, and averaged a double-double throughout the tournament of 13.0 points and 11.0 rebounds.

Regular Season Champions
The Tigers ended Ivy League play with a 10-4 record, and shared the regular season title with Yale. It marked the 29th Ivy title for Princeton, and the second-straight as the Tigers also won the regular season championship in 2021-22. It is the third championship under the guidance of Mitch Henderson, as he also led Princeton to a title in 2016-17.

Henderson In The Postseason
Along with Ivy Madness on five occasions, Franklin C. Cappon-Edward C. Green '40 Head Coach Mitch Henderson has guided the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament twice (2023, 2017), the NIT twice (2022, 2016), and the CBI twice (2014, 2012).

The Carril Connection
After leading the Tigers to 13 Ivy League Championships, Hall of Famer Pete Carril served as an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings from 1996-2002, 2003-2006 and 2008-2011. During his time with the Kings, he helped them into one of the NBA's best offensive teams. Carril, who guided the Tigers to 11 NCAA Tournaments - including a win in 1996 over defending national champion, UCLA, in one of the most famous tournament games in history - passed away on August 15 at the age of 92.

Langborg Returns To The Golden 1 Center
Ryan Langborg is no stranger to the Golden 1 Center. In May 2019, his senior year of high school, he led La Jolla Country Day to a 67-39 victory over San Francisco University High School for the state Division III crown. In that contest, Langborg finished with 23 points and 17 rebounds.

A Princetonian Leading A Sacramento Resurgence
Monte McNair, a former football player at Princeton, is the current GM and President of Basketball Operations of the Sacramento Kings. With McNair leading the way, the Kings have secured their first 40 wins season since 2006 – the year McNair graduated from Princeton – and set to clinch their first playoff appearance since 2006.

A Legacy of Success For Princetonians In Sacramento
Geoff Petrie '70, former men's basketball player at Princeton, served as GM of the Kings from 1994-2013. He won the NBA Executive of the Year Award twice during this time, in both 1999 and 2001.

Success Against The Pac-12
As a head coach, Henderson has a 3-1 record against Pac-12 opponents. The Tigers have defeated Oregon State 81-80 on November 21, 2001, No. 17 Arizona State 67-66 on December 29, 2018, and USC 103-93 on December 19, 2017 during his tenure.

200 Career Wins
Henderson recorded his 200th career win Princeton's 89-82 victory over Cornell on February 3 inside Jadwin Gymnasium. He is currently third all-time in wins at Princeton; Franklin (Cappy) Cappon is second with 250, and Pete Carril first with 514.

Welcome To The Century Club
Princeton's victory over Cornell on February 3 marked 100 regular-season Ivy League wins for Henderson. He became the eighth Ivy League men's basketball coach to reach the milestone, and the second from Princeton as Pete Carril sits atop the list with 310 regular-season conference wins.

Postseason Honors
Pierce was honored as Ivy Rookie of the Year, becoming the seven in school history for Princeton and first since Spencer Weisz '17 in 2014. Evbuomwan was named Unanimous First Team All-Ivy League for the second season in a row along with Academic All-Ivy League, and Matt Allocco garnered Second Team All-Ivy League honors.

Crashing The Boards
The Tigers have been one of the best rebounding teams in the country in 2022-23, with their 29.14 defensive rebounds-per-game leading the Ivy League and ranking No. 3 in the nation. Their 39.31 rebounds-per-game also lead the Ivy League and rank No. 10 in the nation. Princeton's rebound margin of 6.5 also ranks No. 13 nationally.

Efficient Shooting
The Tigers' Effective field goal percentage of 52.9% ranks No. 78 in the country. Effective field goal percentage is a statistic that adjusts field goal percentage to account for the fact that three-point field goals count for three points while field goals only count for two points.

300 Career Assists For Evbuowman
With 305 career assists, Evbuomwan is the ninth player to hand out at least 300 assists in program history and ranks No. 8 on the Tigers' all-time list. He's one spot ahead of Mitch Henderson '98, who ended his career with 304.

Closing In On 1,000 Career Points
With 985 career points, Evbuomwan needs 15 more to join the 1,000-point club. He'd become the 37^th player in school history to score 1,00 points.

An Elite Passer
Evbuomwan's 142 assists in the 2021-22 season were No. 2 all-time at Princeton, trailing only William F. Ryan's 161 assists in the 1983-84 season. He enters with the NCAA Tournament with 140 dimes.

The 2022 Ivy League Player of the Year
After leading the Tigers in scoring ten times, Evbuomawn ranks first on the team in points-per-contest at 15.0 (fourth in the Ivy League) on 52.7 percent shooting (eighth in the conference) and steals (22). He is among the conference's top 10 in assists (First, 4.8), rebounding (seventh, 6.2), and assist/turnover ratio (fourth, 1.6).

Caden Pierce, Rebounding Machine
Pierce leads the Tigers and ranks fifth in the Ivy League in both rebounds-per-game (7.1) and total rebounds (206). Pierce's 206 rebounds are also a rookie record at Princeton, as he bypassed Texas Rangers GM Chris Young '02 who held the previous rookie record of 160. Additionally, Pierce has tallied seven double-doubles so far in 2022-23 and led the Tigers in rebounding 13 times.

Ivy Rookie of the Week
Pierce was honored as the Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the fourth time in 2022-23 on February 27. Along with it being his fourth Rookie of the Week honor, it was the Tigers' sixth as Deven Austin and Xaivian Lee have each won the award once.

An Athletic Family
Pierce's father, Greg played football at Northwestern, and his mother Stephanie played volleyball as a Wildcat. His brother Justin played three years of college basketball at William and Mary, graduated in three years and transferred to the University of North Carolina for his final year and played under Roy Williams. He currently plays professional basketball overseas. His other brother, Alec Pierce, is a wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts and was a second round pick in the 2022 NFL draft who played at University of Cincinnati. His senior year at Cincinnati, the Bearcats finished with their highest-ever national ranking of No. 4, made it to the College Football Playoff Semifinals where they played No. 1 Alabama, and won a program-record 13 wins.

100 Made Threes For Ryan Langborg
With 145 made three-pointers in his career, Langborg ranks all-time in school history at Princeton for made three-pointers.

A Known Threat From Three
Langborg's 66 made three-pointers in the 2021-22 season rank No. 13 all-time at Princeton for most made three-pointers in a season.

One Of The League's Top Guards
Langborg is also averaging 12.1 points per game, which ranks second on the team and 15th in the Ivy League, and his 2.0 three-pointers-per-game rank sixth in the conference.

Matt Allocco Steps Up
Allocco has taken his game to another level this season, and ranks third on the team in scoring with 11.0 points on 48.3% shooting from the field and 40.7% shooting from three, which ranks No. 6 in the Ivy League. He also ranks third on the team in rebounding with 4.9, second in assists with 60 and is tied for the team-high in steals with 22. Allocco has scored in double digits 17 times, and led Princeton in scoring in seven games.

A Presence Inside
Keeshawn Kellman has provided the Tigers with a reliable presence inside in 2022-23, averaging 8.0 points (No. 4 on the team) on 59.7% shooting (No. 2 in the Ivy League) along with 4.6 rebounds. He has scored in double digits in ten games, and his 23 blocked shots rank eighth in the Ivy League.

CSC Academic All-District
College Sports Communicators (CSC) announced its Academic All-District teams on Tuesday, February 21, and Tosan Evbuomwan and senior Jacob O'Connell were both honorees.

Run It Back
The Tigers are coming off a 2021-22 campaign that saw them win the Ivy League Championship outright, earn a bid to the NIT, collect a 23-7 overall record and a 12-2 record in conference play, and defeat power five opponents South Carolina and Oregon State.

#PrincetonPros
Seven Princeton men's basketball alumni currently play basketball in the professional ranks; Devin Cannady '20 (South Bay Lakers of the NBA G-League), Ryan Schwieger '21 (Rasta Vechta), Richmond Aririguzoh '20 (Kangoeroes Basket Willebroek), Myles Stephens '19 (Crailshem Merlins), Amir Bell '18 (Brose Bamberg), Spencer Weisz '17 (Hapoel Haifa), and Ian Hummer '13 (Peristeri).

Princeton Alumni
Four members of the Class of 2022 are doing grad years at other institutions due to an Ivy rule that does not allow student-athletes to compete for a fifth year in the conference.

Drew Friberg is at Belmont, where he is averaging 11.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists. His 45.5% mark from three ranks third in the nation, his 97 made threes ranks 14th, his 3.03 made three-point field goals per game rank 21^st.

Ethan Wright is at Colorado, where he's appeared in 31 games, and Jaelin Llewellyn started in all eight of his appearances at Michigan prior to his season being cut short due to injury. Max Johns is also doing a grad year at Duke.

Princeton's Schedule Over The Years
The Tigers have become known for playing a tough schedule and inside some of the most iconic arenas in college basketball and professional sports. 2022-23 had the Tigers playing in Copper Box Arena in London, England, as part of the 2022 London Basketball Classic where they won the title. Copper Box Arena was the basketball venue for the 2012 London Olympics. Princeton also played inside Alumni Hall against Navy as part of the 2022 Veteran's Classic.

In 2021-22, the Tigers played in Gill Coliseum, home of Oregon State, and Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina, as part of the nationally televised Asheville Championship. In 2019-20, the Tigers played inside the new home of the Golden State Warriors the Chase Center, the Barclays Center, and Assembly Hall when the Tigers met Indiana for the first time since 1997. The Tigers also played inside PPG Paints Arena, home of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins.

Over the past six years Princeton's schedule has included contests inside Cameron Indoor Arena, Madison Square Garden, the base at Pearl Harbor for the 75th anniversary of the attack there, Arizona State's home Desert Financial Arena, Hinkle Fieldhouse, American Airlines Arena and BYU's home the Marriott Center.

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