Mizzou basketball vs. Princeton Tigers: NCAA Tournament lineups, time, TV, analysis

THE DETAILS

When: 5:10 p.m. Central, Saturday

Where: Golden 1 Center (Sacramento, California)

TV: TNT

Odds: Mizzou -6.5

STARTING LINEUPS

About Princeton (22-8, 10-4 Ivy League):

After Missouri’s win over Utah State on Thursday afternoon, Princeton pulled off the upset of the tournament thus far. The No. 15 seed knocked off No. 2 Arizona 59-55, becoming the 11th No. 15 seed all-time to pull off the upset. Princeton got it done without the help of the three-point line or the foul line. Through the game’s first 39 minutes, Princeton had only one free-throw attempt and zero makes. The Princeton Tigers made four of their 25 shots from behind the arc and took their first lead of the game with 2 minutes, 3 seconds to play.

Tosan Evbuomwan was fantastic for Princeton, scoring 15 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Princeton only committed 15 team fouls on the game and limited Arizona to 42% shooting and 18.8% from behind the arc. Princeton ranked No. 16 in the regular season in rebounds and matched up well with the Wildcats.

During the regular season, Princeton began the year with two straight losses to Hofstra and Navy. The Tigers then won eight straight games before losing to Iona, their only regular-season opponent to make the NCAA Tournament. Princeton defeated Penn 77-70 in the conference tournament before downing Yale in the championship game. Missouri also defeated Penn in nonconference play. If Princeton wants to pull off another upset, it will likely need to shoot better than it did against Arizona.

About Missouri (25-9, 11-7 SEC):

Missouri picked up its first NCAA Tournament win since 2010 with a 76-65 victory over Utah State. The Tigers used a second-half barrage of three-pointers to pull away from the Aggies after the Aggies had taken a 51-49 lead with 9:38 to play. Kobe Brown scored the next 10 Tigers points, including a 7-0 run of his own that gave Missouri the lead for good. He finished with 19 points, going 8 for 9 from the field with eight rebounds and two assists.

D’Moi Hodge added 23 points for Missourim with five three-pointers as well. The rest of the team struggled with jump shots throughout the game, but Missouri relied heavily on the two standouts down the stretch.

Utah State, a team known for its three-point shooting, shot 16.7% from the three-point line and 47.5% overall. It turned the ball over 14 times compared to the Tigers’ nine. Both Taylor Funk and Steven Ashworth went 2 for 10 from three-point range, as the Aggies didn’t make their first attempt until the second half. The Tigers delivered the dagger with 1:39 remaining as Nick Honor beat the shot clock buzzer with a triple of his own.

Missouri will enter Saturday’s matchup against Princeton as the favorite, but the MU Tigers will likely need production from others beyond Brown and Hodge.