No. 15 Seed Men's Basketball Set For Sweet 16 Contest Against No. 6 Seed Creighton

Game 32: No. 15 seed Princeton (23-8, 10-4) vs. No. 6 seed Creighton (23-12, 14-6) – 3/24, 9 p.m. ET
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Setting The Scene
The No. 15 seed Princeton University men's basketball team continues play at the 2023 NCAA Tournament in the Sweet 16 inside the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, against No. 6 seed Creighton.

Largest Ever Win By A No. 15 Seed
The Tigers defeated No. 7 seed Missouri, 78-63, in what was the largest win by a No. 15 seed all-time in NCAA Tournament history on March 18 in the Round of 32 inside the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. Senior Ryan Langborg had a game-high 22 points along with six rebounds and four assists, and sophomore Blake Peters poured in a career-high 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting from three in 15 minutes. Junior Matt Allocco finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, while senior Tosan Evbuomwan finished with nine points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Fourth Ivy School To Reach The Sweet 16
Since the round began in 1975, the Princeton is the fourth Ivy school to advance to the Sweet 16. The other schools are Cornell in 2010, along with Pennsylvania in 1979 and 1978.

More History
The Tigers' win over Missouri was the first win by an Ivy school over an SEC school in the men's NCAA Tournament since 1942.

A First Round Win Over No. 2 Seed Arizona
On March 16 in Sacramento the Tigers became the 11th No. 15 seed in men's tournament history defeat a No. 2 seed when they earned a 59-55 victory over Arizona. Evbuomwan led the led the team in points (15), rebounds (7) and assists (4), while Peters added nine points on 3-for-5 shooting from deep. Langborg and senior Keeshawn Kellman both finished with eight points, and the Tigers out-rebounded the Wildcats 38-36.

Leading The Charge
Mitch Henderson has been either the point guard or head coach for all four Princeton men's NCAA Tournament wins since 1985. Along with coaching the Tigers' to a pair of NCAA Tournament wins in 2023, he played on teams that beat UNLV in 1998 and UCLA in 1996.

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.

Back to the NCAA Tournament
The Tigers make their 26th NCAA Tournament appearance, and first since 2017 when the 12th-seeded Tigers took on fifth-seeded Notre Dame in Buffalo 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, he 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).

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 NABC First Team All-District and Unanimous First Team All-Ivy League and for the second season in a row, along with Academic All-Ivy League. Matt Allocco also 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 29.10 defensive rebounds-per-game leading the Ivy League and ranking No. 4 in the nation. Their 39.42 rebounds-per-game also lead the Ivy League and rank No. 9 in the nation. Princeton's rebound margin of 6.6 also ranks No. 11 nationally.

Evbuomwan Joins The 1,000-Point Club
In the Tigers' win over Arizona, Evbuomwan became the 39th Tiger to score 1,000 career points.

300 Career Assists For Evbuowman
With 314 career assists, Evbuomwan is the ninth player to hand out at least 300 assists in program history and ranks No. 6 on the Tigers' all-time list. He's one spot behind John Thompson III '88, who ended his career at Princeton with 347.

An Elite Passer
Evbuomwan's 149 assists in 2022-23 are No. 2 all-time for most assists in a season at Princeton, trailing only William F. Ryan's 161 assists in the 1983-84 season. His 142 assists in the 2021-22 season rank No. 3 all-time.

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 (fifth in the Ivy League) on 52.4 percent shooting (eighth in the conference) and second in steals (23). He is among the conference's top 10 in assists (First, 4.8), rebounding (sixth, 6.3), and assist/turnover ratio (fourth, 1.6).

Caden Pierce, Rebounding Machine
Pierce leads the Tigers and ranks second in the Ivy League total rebounds (230) and leads the team and ranks third in the conference in rebounds-per-game (7.4). Pierce's 230 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 14 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 149 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 12.3 points per game, which ranks second on the team and 13th 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 10.8 points on 46.3% shooting from the field and 38.5% shooting from three. He also ranks third on the team in rebounding with 4.8, second in assists with 69 and is tied for the team-high in steals with 24. 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 61.3% shooting (No. 2 in the Ivy League) along with 4.6 rebounds. He has scored in double digits in ten games, and his 25 blocked shots rank seventh in the Ivy League.

Blake Peters The Microwave
Peters ranks sixth in the Ivy League in three-point percentage thanks to his 40.0% mark.

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. Jaelin Llewellyn is at Michigan, Max Johns at Duke, Ethan Wright at Colorado and Drew Friberg at Belmont.

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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