Princeton basketball's March Madness ride ends with loss to Creighton in Sweet 16

LOUISVILLE – As he checked out of a game for the final time in a Princeton uniform, to a richly deserved standing ovation, Tosan Evbuomwan walked down the line and embraced everyone on the Tigers’ bench, from his coaches to his teammates to the managers.

It was a moving final act to a glorious career as 15th-seeded Princeton’s run to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 closed with an 86-75 loss to sixth-seeded Creighton Friday in the South Regional semifinals.

“I was hurting, you know,” Evbuomwan said later, in the locker room. “Just the realization that our season was over, and I’m not going to play with this group of guys again. But I’m very thankful and honored to be in this position.”

The best college basketball player in New Jersey went out on his shield, posting 24 points, nine assists and six rebounds while committing just one turnover in 38 minutes. Some of the passes the 6-foot-8 point forward delivered were pure magic.

“Best player I’ve ever played with,” said fellow senior Ryan Langborg, who affixed his own exclamation point with a game-high 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting.

It wasn’t enough to beat Creighton, which possesses the firepower to win it all, but Princeton made a game of it. On a night when highly touted squads like Houston and Xavier got their doors blown off, the Tigers reinforced one final time that they belong on this stage.

“It’s a heck of a team,” head coach Mitch Henderson said. “We fought all the way to the end, but came up short. That does not define us one bit. This is a very special group, and I love them, love being their coach.”

Now comes the awkward part. Evbuomwan and Langborg are graduating this spring with economics degrees but they have a fifth year of eligibility left, and can’t take it at Princeton because the Ivy League doesn’t allow postgrads to play. Langborg will enter the transfer portal. Evbuomwan’s got a harder decision to make. He’s not on NBA Draft boards but he’s not that far off either, and the Newcastle, England native could make good money in an upper-tier European league.

“I’ll sit down with my family and make that decision,” he said.

After becoming the toast of his campus, can he picture himself wearing another college’s uniform?

“It’s a little hard, I’m not going to lie,” he said. “We’ll see. I’ll make that decision soon.”

Whatever path he chooses, Evbuomwan knows how he wants to be remembered at Old Nassau.

“As a winner – a selfless player and one that put winning before everything,” he said. “I want this to be remembered as a great team.”

It will be for a long, long time to come.

FIVE TAKEAWAYS

1. Jadwin Gym South

The Yum Center holds 22,000, and after a chunk of sad Alabama fans hit the exits following the top-ranked Tide’s stunning loss to San Diego State, Princeton had the majority of the crowd in its corner. Orange was the predominant color, especially in the lower bowl, and San Diego State’s faithful went all-in behind the underdog, too.

Creighton fans showed well – as Big East observers can attest, the Jays have a hardcore base that travels – but for much of the contest, and especially during the first half, the building sounded like Jadwin Gym South.

"You dream about playing in March Madness as a kid, but you never can expect just how fun it is when you hear the swarm of orange cheering for you guys," Langborg said. "It was awesome, playing in that atmosphere."

But Princeton fans should take a bow. Tigers supporters took over the Hyatt Regency downtown, threw a raucous pregame pep rally for the players and coaching staff as they boarded the bus to the arena, and showed the world that Ivy Leaugers love their hoops just as much as the sport’s biggest brands, if not more.

"It means everything," Henderson said of the turnout. "We told everybody, wait until you see. We talked to our fans in the hotel before coming over...I was so fired up before coming over here. It was the coolest thing. This group right here, we love our school, but we also felt the love."

2. Langborg proved them wrong

For the past two weeks, Henderson has complained about Langborg being shut out of All-Ivy League honors, and was he ever correct. The guard was fearless against Creighton, attacking its huge front line over and over, willing the ball into the net.

"One of the best players in the tournament -- the Ivy League Tournament, the NCAA Tournament," Henderson said. "His confidence level rose throughout the tournaments and so did ours."

3. Henderson and Princeton, perfect together

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more comfortable coach-college fit than Henderson and his alma mater. Ivy League fans and Jersey hoop-heads have long understood Henderson’s coaching chops. Now the rest of the country gets it.

“He’s pushed me all four years, that’s all you want as a player," Evbuomwan said. "He’s always insisting I can be better, and that inspires confidence in me.”

Henderson is more than a coach. He’s a mentor to his guys and an ambassador for his university, where he’s deeply ingrained in the fabric. He’s a true believer in the college’s credo of education through athletics. Will he make Princeton his life’s work, like Pete Carril did? It’s hard to expect that of anyone, especially with the money an interested high-major can dangle.

But it’s also hard to picture him coaching anywhere else.

4. Give Creighton credit

The Jays have so many weapons and use them all with spacing, passing and unselfishness that any purist can respect. Baylor Scheierman (21 points, 8-of-11 shooting) and Trey Alexander (19 points, 6-of-11) torched Princeton's perimeter, and 7-foot-1 Ryan Kalkbrenner (22 points on 9-of-12) seized control in the decisive early minutes of the second half.

Greg McDermott's coaching also stood in stark relief compared to that of the last two teams Princeton dissected, Arizona and Missouri. His guys squeezed nearly every mismatch.

"They know exactly what they are, and they're very well-oiled, as we had expected," Henderson said.

This team was sorely under-seeded and should have an epic South Regional final against defensive-minded San Diego State Sunday.

5. Nothing better

Each March, we are reminded why there is no better sporting event than the NCAA Tournament. It truly is anybody's and everybody's game.

Last year, Saint Peter’s carried that banner. This year it was Princeton, which outlasted all four No. 1 seeds.

"The Ivy League and the other schools in the same kind of conferences, I think we deserve the recognition," Langborg said. "You've seen a couple of years in a row where 15 seeds are making runs. It just shows that there's not a lot that separates us from everyone else."

The basketball Gods reward fidelity to the game. Princeton, playing with an inspired combination of guts and precision, earned that reward. The Big Dance of 2023 was better for it.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Princeton basketball's March Madness ride ends vs. Creighton in Sweet 16