Sweet 16 Game Night

From the final buzzer of its win over Missouri last Saturday — actually, make that from around the under-8 media timeout of its win over Missouri — the Princeton men's basketball team has been riding a wave of excitement, attention and celebrity.

Each moment is something extraordinary. Each day has brought another memory that will last forever for all of them. 

Tonight, though, it's all business. It's Princeton against Creighton in Louisville in the Sweet 16. Tip-off is at 9.

The winner of that game plays the winner of tonight's first game at the KFC Yum! Center, between Alabama and San Diego State Sunday for a trip to the Final Four. 

Princeton's run marks the third straight year that a No 15 seed has gotten this far. In fact, it's the second straight year that a No. 15 from New Jersey has gotten to the second weekend, after St. Peter's did a year ago. 

St. Peter's defeated No. 2 Kentucky and No. 7 Murray State and then won a third game, defeating No. 3 Purdue in the Sweet 16 before falling to North Carolina in the regional final. 

The year before, it was Oral Roberts as a 15 seed who reached the Sweet 16, after beating No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Florida.  

Before that? The tournament began its current seeding process in 1985. The only other school besides Princeton, St. Peter's and Oral Roberts to get this far was Florida-Gulf Coast, who dunked its way past No. 2 Georgetown and No. 7 San Diego State.

Princeton is also the 36th team seeded No. 9 or lower (or is that higher?) to get this far. Those teams, seeded 9-15, are 12-23 in the Sweet 16. Only five such teams have then won again to reach the Final Four, and all five were 11 seeds: LSU (1986), George Mason (2006), Loyola (2018), UCLA (2021). 

The good part about being a No. 15 who wins its opener is that the first game is against the No. 2, which means that it can't face a higher (or is that lower?) seed until the regional final. Princeton followed up its 59-55 win over No. 2 Arizona by beating No. 7 Missouri 78-63. The 15-point margin was the largest ever by a 15-seed in an NCAA game.

Now it's No. 6 Creighton. The Blue Jays got here by defeating No. 11 North Carolina State 72-63 and then No. 3 Baylor 85-76. They have never gotten any further than this in the NCAA tournament.

There aren't many teams Princeton could play whose career leader in points has more than the Tigers' does, but Creighton is one of them. Doug McDermott, in fact, is the No. 7 all-time leading scorer in Division I history, having scored 3,150 points as a Blue Jay before heading to a long NBA career.

Greg McDermott, Doug's father, is the Creighton head coach, and he's been in his position longer than any other current Big East coach (13 years). Here's what he said about Princeton yesterday:

Offensively, you know, Evbuomwan, he can score, and he can really pass. If you allow him to do both, you're asking for trouble. So we have to figure out a way to slow that down. It's hard to do, and they space the floor with a lot of really good shooters. Then when they miss, you know, the first two games, 30 second-chance points for Princeton and four combined for Arizona and Missouri. So I think that speaks to their discipline defensively on the glass, blocking out, not giving you second opportunities, and then their second effort that they make to get to that offensive glass when they do miss a shot. We have our hands full. This is a really, really good basketball team. It's not a fluke that they're still playing.

Creighton has done something in its first two NCAA games that no team has done since 1997, and that's had two different players score at least 30 points in a game. First it was 7-1 Ryan Kalkbrenner with 31 against NC State, and then it was Ryan Nembhard with 30 against Baylor. 

The most impressive stats for Princeton through two NCAA games involve rebounding. The Tigers have outrebounded their first two NCAA opponents by a combined 82-67. The Tigers have a 30-4 edge in second-chance points through two NCAA games.

Between the two of them, they were a combined 7 for 45 from three-point range in their first games and then 23 for 57 in the next two games combined.

Will the game be decided somewhere in those numbers? Will Princeton be able to defend the 7-1 Kalkbrenner? Will the Tigers be great on the offensive glass? Will the three-pointers fall for one and not the other? 

Or will it be something else? 

No matter what, this is one of the biggest moments in Princeton Basketball history. To get this far is extraordinary.

To go further? Either Princeton or Creighton will know that feeling later tonight.