Princeton basketball players must balance academia as they advance to Sweet 16

The Princeton Tigers men’s basketball team has made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 56 years.

Matt Trapani and Nick Meidanis

Mar 20, 2023, 11:13 PM

Updated 631 days ago

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The Princeton Tigers men’s basketball team has made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 56 years.
The players are back on campus after back-to-back wins and now must return to classes and midterms ahead of their next time.
Star forward Tosan Evbuomwan had to show up a little late for Monday’s workout because he had a three-hour class. He says that when he went to pick up some food at a restaurant nearby, he also got a hero’s welcome with many inside congratulating him.
The 15-seed Tigers defeated Arizona and Missouri in the first two rounds of the tournament. They will next play Creighton on Friday.
With Fairleigh Dickinson out of the tournament, it is now up to Princeton to represent New Jersey’s Cinderella story. It is a phrase that many of the players have embraced.
“You can call it what you want for a 15th seed. So, you know, Cinderella, that’s fine - whatever term you want to use," Evbuomwan says.
“This is a surreal time. Not only for the team but for the university and we feel obligated, almost, to win the game on Friday,” says sophomore guard Blake Peters.
But despite the excitement, many of the players are still concentrated on their schoolwork. Player Ryan Langborg is working on his thesis. He is researching how traveling through time zones impacts players and whether oddsmakers in Las Vegas properly factor that into sports betting lines.