MADNESS!!!! Princeton Takes Down Second-Seeded Arizona In NCAA Opener

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The final seconds ticked away. The game was won. Only one question remained.

Would Mitch Henderson reprise the iconic photo of 27 years earlier, jumping with arms extended in a moment as mad as any March has offered?

The answer to that question was no. The answer to everything else for Princeton on this afternoon was a resounding YES!!!!!

Could Princeton deal with a much taller opponent? Could Princeton win without making three-pointers? Could Princeton come back from a double-figure deficit?

YES!!!!!

Princeton, the 15^th seed, knocked off second-seeded Arizona 59-55 in the opening round of the NCAA tournament Thursday afternoon in Sacramento, marking the 11^th time in tournament history that a 15 has beaten a 2. The win advances the Tigers into Saturday's second round against seventh-seeded Missouri, who took down Utah State.

How 'bout them Tigers?! ??

(2) Arizona's #MFinalFour dreams are dashed after (15) @PrincetonMBB's stunning upset of the Wildcats.#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/2qLZngBW9K
— NCAA Men's Final Four (@MFinalFour) March 16, 2023

When it was over, Henderson calmly walked down the sideline to shake hands with the Wildcats. This win came 27 years after the Tigers defeated defending NCAA champ UCLA with Henderson as the point guard, and the photo of the then-sophomore at the final buzzer is probably the most famous in Princeton Athletics history.

Princeton defeated Arizona on a day when it shot just 4 for 25 from three-point range, but it made up for that by outrebounding the mighty Wildcats 38-36, including a 9-7 edge in offensive rebounds, and perhaps most incredibly, having a 6-1 edge in blocked shots. More than perhaps anything else, Princeton never let up, swarming Arizona wherever it went and refusing to let the Wildcats pull away.

Princeton was led by Tosan Evbuomwan, whose numbers were 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists and whose intangibles including having the ball most of the time it was in Princeton's hands and having to contend with all that size. He got all of his teammates involved, and he took over when it was needed.

Henderson, now the first to win in the NCAA tournament with Princeton as a player and a head coach, could have been forgiven if he had run onto the court and leapt in the air. After all, what his team had just accomplished was extraordinary.

First, there was the matter of the opponent, who was days removed from winning the Pac-12 tournament. Arizona's two leading scorers stood 6-11 and 7-0, and this was a team that led its league in scoring, rebounding and assists.

Next, there was the fact that Princeton was playing from behind essentially the whole afternoon. Arizona got out to a 6-0 lead and led by nine with four minutes to go in the first half, but did Princeton go away? Nope. Instead, the Tigers closed the half on an 8-0 run, making it 31-30 at the break.

Arizona sprinted away again, building it to the largest lead of 47-35 with just under 12 minutes left. Again, would Princeton fade? Would this end up being one of those "well, the final score doesn't really do it justice" days?

Again, nope.

Princeton kept coming back, even if the threes weren't falling. How did it happen? Every loose ball was contested. Every shot was challenged. Everything Princeton did put pressure on Arizona.

Arizona scored for the final time with 4:50 left to make it 55-50. From there the Tigers wiped them out completely on one end and finally, finally took the lead on the other, when Ryan Langborg fought his way through the lane and banked in a tough shot to make it 56-55 with exactly two minutes left.

Just over a minute later, Langborg swatted away a shot by Courtney Ramey, and Evbuomwan rebounded an Azuolas Tubelis miss on the same possession. Zach Martini came up huge for Princeton off the bench with seven points and seven rebounds, but it was a play that he made with 24 seconds left that will be talked about forever.

PRINCETON UPSETS ARIZONA!!! #MarchMadness

pic.twitter.com/CoQvTxTnTM
— Sports ON Tap Brothers??? (@thesportsontap) March 16, 2023

Evbuomwan looked to go to the basket but instead kicked it to the perimeter to Martini, who then sent a perfect bounce pass through three Arizona defenders to Caden Pierce, who was fouled and then made both free throws.

After Arizona missed two three-pointers, Evbuomwan got another board and was fouled, sending him to the line for a one-and-one. When he made the first, it was figuratively over. When he missed the second and Arizona could do nothing with it, then it was literally over.

Oh, by the way, that made free throw gave Evbuomwan exactly 1,000 points for his career. Evbuomwan was the only Tiger in double figures, but Princeton had six other players score at least six. Keeshawn Kellman was huge, with eight big points against the Arizona front line. Blake Peters went 3 of 5 from three-point range on a day when every other Tiger was 1 for 20, and Pierce added eight rebounds to his six points.

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