Missouri vs Princeton: 2023 NCAA Tournament Round of 32 game preview

Missouri’s first-year Head Coach Dennis Gates has a special team on his hands. Not many Mizzou fans could have imagined making it to the NCAA Tournament this year, let alone getting a win for the first time since 2010. Mizzou got huge games out of their star players Kobe Brown and D’Moi Hodge.

Brown took over in the second half scoring 13 of his 19 points. And Hodge knocked in 5 threes, scoring a game-high 23 points, leading Mizzou to an 11-point win over Utah State. Missouri also had a solid defensive outing, holding Utah State to only four made threes. Mizzou forced 15 turnovers and had 9 steals leading to 23 points off turnovers.

They will have another tough matchup in the second round, taking on Princeton out of the Ivy League. In the first round, the 15-seed Princeton used a solid defensive outing to slow down an Arizona team that on the season was averaging 82.7 points per game, giving basketball fans the second major upset of the day. They were led by senior forward Tosan Evbuomwan, who scored a team-high 15 points. Princeton went into the half down 1 and used a strong second half to upset Arizona by 4.

As they did in their first-round game, Missouri will have to find a way to slow down another good three-point shooting team in Princeton. This season Princeton averages 8.5 made threes per game hitting over 34 percent of their shots from behind the arc. Mizzou will also need another solid performance on the defensive end. Missouri is one of the best teams in the country when it comes to steals, averaging over 10 steals per game, and will need to keep up the pressure against the squad from the Ivy, a team that averages over 12 turnovers per game.

One advantage Princeton has over Missouri is its rebounding, which the SEC team doesn’t do well. Princeton averages 9 more rebounds than Missouri this season. For Mizzou to have a chance to win this game they have to keep Princeton’s two best rebounders, Tosan Evbuomwan (6.2 rpg) and Caden Pierce (7.1 rpg), off the boards limiting their second-chance buckets. Evbuomwan is also Princeton’s leading scorer on the season averaging 15.0 points per game.

Missouri will need to have another strong offensive performance to keep them in the game against a Princeton team that holds their opponents to under 70 points per game on the season. Mizzou played the first game with a chip on their shoulder as many picked them to get upset in the first round. Missouri will need to continue to play with that same mentality, proving they belong on college basketball’s biggest stage against a solid Princeton team coming off the high of upsetting Arizona in the first round.