Beware of the No. 15 seeds.
The No. 15 Princeton Tigers stunned the No. 2 Arizona Wildcats 59-55 in the first round of the men's NCAA basketball tournament on Thursday.
It marked the third straight year that a No. 15 seed upset a No. 2 seed after Oral Roberts beat Ohio State in 2021 and fellow New Jersey school Saint Peter's defeated Kentucky last year.
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The Tigers' victory at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California was the program's first NCAA Tournament win since 1998 and just the 11th ever by a No. 15 seed in the tourney.
Princeton, which is back in March Madness for the first time since 2017 thanks to winning the Ivy League tournament, faced its largest deficit of 12 against Arizona with 11:50 remaining in the second half. But the Tigers ripped off a 24-8 run to close the game, which included holding the Pac-12 champions scoreless for the final 4:21.
The Tigers seized the lead with just over two minutes remaining on a layup from Ryan Langborg.
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After Caden Pierce extended Princeton's lead to three with a pair of free throws inside the final 30 seconds, the Wildcats missed two attempts at a game-tying 3-pointer.
Tosan Evbuomwan, who scored a team-high 15 points, then sealed the upset by making one of two free throws in the final seconds.
Princeton will face No. 7 Missouri in a Tigers versus Tigers second-round showdown on Saturday. Missouri defeated No. 10 Utah State 76-65 to open play in the South Region on Thursday.
