Mitch Henderson’s leap of victory that punctuated Princeton’s famous upset against UCLA in 1996 has become an iconic moment. There’s a photo of the joyful jump at the school’s practice facility that serves as a constant reminder of what’s possible.
Now, current Henderson players have created one of their own.
Ryan Langborg carried Princeton to its first lead with 2:03 remaining and the Tigers used a late-game run to earn their first NCAA Tournament victory in 25 years, topping the No. 2 seed in the league. Arizona 59-55 Thursday.
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The 15th-seeded Tigers (22-9) scored the final nine points, holding the Pac-12 Tournament champion scoreless in the final 4:43.
Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 points in Princeton’s first tournament victory since defeating UNLV in 1998, when Henderson was a Tigers player.
Henderson also played on the 1996 team that defeated defending champion UCLA in the school final tournament under coach Pete Carril, who died in August. That win fittingly came in Sacramento, where Carril spent time as an NBA assistant after retiring as Tigers coach.
Princeton advanced to face seventh-seeded Missouri in the second round of the South Region.
Azuolas Tubelis scored 21 points for the Wildcats (28-7), who haven’t won a tournament game in consecutive years since 2014-15.
It was the third straight year and 11th time overall that a No. 15 seed had won a first-round match. Arizona is the only school to be on the wrong end of one of those upsets twice, also losing to Steve Nash and Santa Clara in 1993.
The Wildcats seemed to be in control of this one when Oumar Ballo’s field goal gave them a 10-point lead with eight minutes left.
But the Tigers responded with seven straight points, capped by a second 3-point chance from Blake Peters that made it 51-48 with about six minutes remaining.
They closed the game with a 9-0 run – just like they did in their most memorable tournament win against UCLA in 1996.
Ramey missed a disputed 3-pointer with 14 seconds left that could have tied the game. Kerr Kriisa also missed from wide after an offensive rebound, sending Princeton into an early celebration.
Poor turnover helps Furman stun Virgina
JP Pegues scored 3 points with 2.4 seconds remaining, and No. 13 seed Furman completed a rally from a 12-point second-half deficit to give fourth-seeded Virginia , another NCAA Tournament first-round loss, 68-67 on Thursday.
Making their first trip to the NCAA tournament in 43 years, the Paladins (28-7) advanced to the second round in the South Region, where they will face either fifth-seeded San Diego State or 12th-seeded Charleston. , SATURDAY.
Furman earned his first berth in a tournament since 1980 by beating Chattanooga for the Southern Conference title, capping a season-long quest to redeem himself after losing the league’s automatic berth to the Mocs on a buzzer-beater. 35 feet in the South final last year.
Following that loss, Jalen Slawson and his best friend, Mike Bothwell, both decided to return for their fifth season with the Paladins. Slawson resumed the game when Bothwell fouled, finishing with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
Kihei Clark, who played as a freshman on national title-winning Virginia in 2019, threw a bad pass that Garrett Hien intercepted at midcourt with 7 seconds left, setting up the basket for Pegues, his only 3 of the game.
Reece Beekman’s deep 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the edge and Virginia (25-8) was eliminated in the first round as the highest-ranked team for the third time in its last four NCAA tournaments – including its loss as the No. 1 seed at UMBC’s 16th seed in 2018. Virginia hasn’t won an NCAA tournament game since its 2019 triumph over Texas Tech for the title.
Toronto’s Marcus Carr helps Texas dominate Colgate
Sir’Jabari Rice scored 23 points and the No. 2 seed from Texas stopped Colgate’s precision shot for an 81-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
Rice made five of his seven 3-pointers in the first half, helping the Longhorns get off to a quick start. Marcus Carr finished with 17 points and Dylan Disu with 17 points and nine rebounds.
Carr, a sixth-year senior from Toronto, who previously played in Pittsburgh and Minnesota, and had the second-best assist-to-rotation ratio in the Big 12 this season, skillfully led his teammates and threw them at the right time, too.
After driving hard to the block, Carr returned the ball up the key to set up Price’s fourth 3-pointer for a 29-17 lead. As Rice calmly and deliberately flashed a sheepish smile, Carr gave him an exaggerated hand slap as he jumped up and down on the defense retreat.
Texas (27-8) shot 13-for-23 from 3-point range while advancing to a second-round game against winner Penn State-Texas A&M on Saturday in the Midwest Region.
In another inspired performance under interim coach Rodney Terry, Rice and the Longhorns picked the perfect time to warm up on the perimeter against the nation’s best outside shooting team. They tied their best season for 3 points made.
The Raiders (26-9) went just 3 for 15 from deep against a relentless, long-armed Longhorns defense. Colgate shot better than 40% before the tournament. The nation’s top individual 3-point shooter, Oliver Lynch-Daniels, went 1 for 4. He was a 50 percent long-range shooter this season.
Roach helps Duke defeat Oral Roberts
Jeremy Roach scored a career-high 23 points, and No. 5-seeded Duke beat Oral Roberts 74-51 Thursday in the school’s first NCAA Tournament game since Jon Scheyer took over in as coach of the Blue Devils.
Dariq Whitehead added 13 points to lead the Blue Devils (27-8), winners of the ACC Tournament.
Scheyer helped Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski win two of five national titles as a former Duke player and assistant. He is now trying to orchestrate his own March Madness magic.
In his first game of the NCAA Tournament as a substitute for Krzyzewski, Scheyer led Duke to a 10th straight victory and a second round game in the East Region against fourth seed Tennessee or the top seed. No. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette.
Oral Roberts (30-5) entered the tournament on a 17-game winning streak but was unable to replicate his success from two years ago when the Golden Eagles upset the State of Ohio and Florida in a surprising run to the Sweet 16.
Kansas title defense starts strong
Jalen Wilson had 20 points and seven rebounds for No. 1 seed and defending national champion Kansas, giving absentee and recovering coach Bill Self some rest in an easy 96 win. -68 against Howard Thursday in a West Region first-round game.
Self is still recovering from a recent heart procedure.
Gradey Dick had 19 points and 11 rebounds in Game 1 of the freshman NCAA Tournament. KJ Adams Jr. scored 13 points and Dajuan Harris Jr. added 11 points for the Jayhawks (28-7), who will face game-winner Arkansas vs. Illinois in the second round on Saturday.
Kansas, which has won 16 straight games in the first round, is trying to become the NCAA’s first repeat winner in 16 years.
Shy Odom had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Bison (22-13), who were making their first appearance on the program since 1992.
Maryland outlasts West Virginia
Maryland overcame a slow start and a final buzzer heave from Kedrian Johnson, outpacing West Virginia 67-65.
Johnson led all scorers with 27 points, but his potential winner bounced off the side of the rim when the horn sounded, allowing the Terrapins (22-12) to advance in March Madness.
Maryland, led by Julian Reese with 17 points and nine rebounds, meets the winner of No. 16 seed Alabama and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday. These teams met in the second game of the day at Legacy Arena.
The opener between eighth-seeded Maryland and the No. 9 Mountaineers (19-15) lived up to the bill.
Maryland trailed 12 points in the first half before rallying to take a 32-30 lead at the break. Neither team was able to escape in the last 20 minutes.
A roving call to Jahmir Young gave West Virginia a chance to tie him with a three-pointer. But the climbers found no one open beyond the arc, forcing Tre Mitchell to place it under the basket.
Young was fouled after inbounds but only made one of two free throws. West Virginia got the ball in the hands of the guy they wanted, but Johnson failed to beat the buzzer.
Missouri is moving on
Missouri used a second-half scoring push from Kobe Brown to win its first NCAA Tournament game in 13 years, defeating Utah State.
Brown hit three 3-pointers in just over three minutes to power a 13-2 run that turned a two-point deficit into a 62-53 lead.
The seventh-seeded Tigers (25-9) held their ground from there, halting a six-game tournament skid with their first win since beating Clemson in the first round in 2010.
The 10th-seeded Aggies (26-9) have lost their last 10 tournament games since beating Ohio State in the first round in 2001. The loss was also the 11th straight for a Mountain West team in the NCAA.
The game was tight for most of the second half until Brown and D’Moi Hodge took it over midway through the second half scoring 20 straight points for the Tigers.
