SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Missouri basketball season few expected to last this long ended more bitter than sweet on Saturday.
A 78-63 loss to Princeton in the second round of the NCAA Tournament denied the Tigers a berth in next week’s Sweet 16 and instead ended a remarkable debut season for coach Dennis Gates and his team.
Hoping to reach the Sweet 16 in Louisville to face either Baylor or Creighton, the Tigers (25-10) will have to settle for a season that reached heights beyond anyone’s expectations outside of Gates’ locker room. Picked to finish 11th in the Southeastern Conference’s preseason poll, Mizzou finished fourth, earned its highest NCAA Tournament seed (seventh) in more than a decade and toppled six nationally ranked teams.