For a second straight year, a No. 15 seed from New Jersey has upended the men’s NCAA tournament bracket.
Last year, it was Saint Peter’s, the small commuter school in Jersey City that electrified the sports world on its run to the Elite Eight. This time around, it’s Princeton, one of the world’s most prestigious universities, providing the first true tournament shocker. The Tigers trailed Arizona for the game’s first 37 minutes, but rallied from a double-digit second-half deficit to win 59–55 and become the third No. 15 team in as many years to win at least one game.
This wasn’t the traditional upset: Princeton shot a worse percentage from the field, shot just 4–25 from three, and its top two guards combined to shoot just 5–25 in the game. Instead, the Tigers outrebounded an Arizona team with one of the nation’s most vaunted frontcourts and generally frustrated an explosive offensive team. Princeton also seemed to get stronger as the game went on, holding Arizona to just four points in the game’s final eight minutes and none in the final 4:45. When faced with game pressure, the Wildcats folded, committing three turnovers in that defining 4:45 and settling for perimeter jumpers when they did get shots up.
