Princeton doesn’t see itself as Cinderella ahead of Sweet 16
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In the eyes of the college basketball world, the Princeton men’s basketball team may be Cinderella as a No. 15 seed in the Sweet 16.
Just don’t tell that to these Tigers.
“We might be considered nationally as a mid-major, but our school thinks very highly of its basketball history, and we think that this team reflects that history very well,” coach Mitch Henderson said. “I would put this team up against any of them.”
Princeton (23-8) has played like it belongs at the ball in NCAA Tournament victories over No. 2 seed Arizona and No. 7 seed Missouri in Sacramento last weekend. That has led it to a regional semifinal here at the KFC Yum! Center against No. 6 seed Creighton (23-12) on Friday night (6 p.m. Pacific, TBS).
“We know who we are and what we bring to the table,” star forward Tosan Evbuomwan said. “It doesn’t mean too much to me what everyone else calls us. I think we know who we are, so you guys can call us whatever you want.”
What the Tigers have been is tough on defense and even better on the glass. They out-rebounded both Arizona and Missouri — Missouri by a whopping 14, including 16 offensive boards, and outscored those two, 31-4, on second-chance points — and are allowing just 63 points per game over the course of a sixgame winning streak.
So you can forget any chance that the Blue Jays are looking past this No. 15 seed.
“I’ve watched a lot of Ivy League basketball the last three or four days and I’ll be watching more in the future because I’ve been really impressed with the execution, and the coaching in that league is outstanding,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott. “For them to be co-champions of that conference speaks to how good they are.”
Princeton is trying to make this the second straight year a No. 15 seed has reached the Elite Eight after its New Jersey neighbor Saint Peter’s took the country on a magical ride last March.
“Each team has a special life to live in the tournament,” Henderson said. “You’re lucky and fortunate if you get a chance — I’ve seen it on the other side as a coach and watched teams forever, but this is — it’s amazing and hard to put into words what it feels like on this end, but I’m glad — I don’t think seeds matter as much as they used to.”
Henderson said the turning point of the Princeton season
was a loss to Yale on Feb. 18 when it blew an 18-point lead with eightand-a-half minutes remaining. In his words, it opened his group up in a painstaking way, but it also provided perspective.
The Tigers responded with victories over Harvard and Penn to grab a share of the Ivy League regular-season title, then finally snapped the Yale hex in the Ivy Tournament final in front of a roaring home crowd.
“We took it to heart,” Henderson said. “... We had gone through this really big swing in two weeks of the emotion of a game. It gave them the confidence to know that the worst thing in the world can happen to you and we’re going to wake up the next morning and they decided what the hell let’s go play.”
Led by their star, Evbuomwan, and a supporting cast of shot makers and hard-hat defenders, the Tigers have done just that.
Senior Ryan Langborg and sophomore Blake Peters took starring turns in the win over Missouri with 22 and 17 points, respectively, freshman Caden Pierce has been a walking double-double for a month, senior Matt Allocco a steadying hand and solid minutes from senior Keeshawn Kellman and junior Zach Martini.
“We have our hands full,” McDermott said. “This is a really good basketball team and it’s not a fluke that they are still playing.”
Call them Cinderella if you want, but the Tigers aren’t even looking at the clock.
“At least the good thing that comes out of it is everyone in the arena supports you outside of the team you’re playing against,” Allocco said. “I don’t think we pay attention a lot to the labels and all that because we know we belong here.”
Michigan State falls to Kansas State in NCAA Tournament OT thriller
NEW YORK — It was an NCAA Tournament game for the ages, but for Michigan State, it will simply be remembered as a bitter defeat.
The Spartans’ offense came to life on Thursday night, but defensive breakdowns and some huge shots from Kansas State ended the Spartans’ NCAA Tournament run at Madison Square Garden as Wildcats guard Markquis Nowell turned in another magnificent performance to lead No. 3 Kansas State to a 98-93 overtime victory over No. 7 Michigan State.
Kansas State (26-9) advances to the Elite Eight and a matchup Saturday with either Tennessee or Florida Atlantic.
Michigan State (21-13) had five players score in double figures and shot 13-for-25 from 3-point range, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Nowell’s tournament-record 19 assists and a steal on Tyson Walker in the final seconds of overtime to seal the Wildcats’ victory.
A.J. Hoggard scored 25 points to lead the Spartans while Joey Hauser had 18 points and six rebounds. Walker scored 16, Jaden Akins added 14 and Malik Hall had 13 points and eight rebounds.
Nowell scored 20 to go with his assists while Keyontae Johnson scored 22, including a lob dunk inside a minute to play in overtime. Ismael Massoud added 15, including a big three late in regulation and the final shot that proved to seal the victory in overtime.
The pace was fast in the early going, even if the shots weren’t falling for Michigan State. However, the Spartans overcame a 1-for-7 start, getting a pair of 3-pointers from Hauser and another from Akins to tie the game at 17 before they took their first lead, 19-18, on a Hauser jumper with 8:04 left in the first half.
A Walker 3-pointer helped push the lead to 22-18 and it remained a four-point lead after a dazzling layup from Walker and a pair of free throws from Hauser. However, the Spartans couldn’t maintain the momentum as turnovers from Hoggard and Hall helped spark an 8-0 run for the Wildcats, giving them a 30-26 lead with four minutes to play in the half.
It went back and forth from there, but Kansas State got two more 3-pointers – it was 7-for12 in the first half – and outscored Michigan State, 21-12, over the final 5:31 of the half to take a 43-38 lead to the locker room.
Kansas State kept things rolling early in the second half, pushing its lead to 47-38 by scoring the first four points. But Michigan State began to claw back into the game, taking advantage of an injury to Nowell before eventually grabbing the lead at 54-52 on a runner from Hoggard. His free throw made it a three-point game as the Wildcats responded with five straight points to take the lead back.
But an Akins 3-pointer and a Hall layup put Michigan State up, 6057, with 11:25 to play as the back-and-forth continued.
Kansas State scored four in a row to take the lead as the advantage changed hands over the next five possessions. Walker and Hauser then hit back-to-back triples, but Kansas State answered by scoring the next 10 points to take a 77-70 lead with 4:44 to play.
Walker answered with a 3-pointer and Hoggard hit two free throws to get the Spartans within two, but Massoud then nailed his deep triple. Akins then hit a three and Hall got a put-back to bring MSU within two. After a stop, Walker scored on a runner to tie the game with five seconds to play and Nowell’s last shot came up short to force overtime.
The battle continued in overtime with Michigan State going up, 87-84, on a Walker triple. But Kansas State scored the next four to take the lead as it went back and forth from there, ending up tied at 92 with 1:29 to play.
Nowell threw a lob to Johnson to put Kansas State up two and Hall split a pair of free throws with 42.8 left to leave Michigan State behind, 94-93. The Wildcats then got another huge bucket from Massoud with 12.5 to play and Walker’s final shot never got off as Nowell swiped it and went in for a layup as the buzzer sounded.