Princeton students cheer on men's basketball team at Sweet 16 watch party
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Princeton University students were on the edges of their seats Friday night at a March Madness watch party, but it ended up being a disappointing night for the men's basketball team.
The Princeton Tigers were trying to continue their Cinderella run in the NCAA Tournament, taking on Creighton in the Sweet 16.
Students were on spring break during Princeton's first round upset of Arizona, but they were back on campus Friday night and pumped up for the big game.
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The Tigers, a No. 15 seed, weren't supposed to go this far. They defeated the No. 2 seed Arizona in the first round, then beat No. 7 seed Missouri by 15 points in the second round.
A win Friday would have meant Princeton's first Elite Eight appearance since 1965.
MORE: No stranger to big upsets, Princeton will need another to get to NCAA Tournament Elite 8
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's and First Lady Tammy Murphy's son is a senior at Princeton.
"I think Charlie is very excited, but he's at Princeton. So we are seeing this through the lens of everybody else who's not at Princeton and I think that we appreciate that," said Tammy Murphy.
"I also think that folks realize that this team belongs. You get some of these 'Holy cow, where did that come from?' There was a little of that when they beat Arizona, but they dropped the hammer on Missouri," said Gov. Murphy.
Watch Doug Williams' report
Students at the campus watch party had their hopes set on a potential Final Four appearance in Houston.
"We're gonna fly out there. We're gonna fly out there. We'll charter a plane. We'll do whatever it takes to get there," freshman Chloe Long said.
"There's a very strong culture of supporting other students here. And I think especially with this run, like, everyone's been so excited to see both teams, men's and women's teams, in March Madness," student body president Stephen Daniels said.
The Tigers ultimately came up short, losing to Creighton 86-75.
"Feeling disappointed, but we know our boys fought out there. It was a hard game," one student said.
"An absolutely magical season from the Tigers, and they left it all out there on the court," another student said.
Watch Alecia Reid's report
"We weren't supposed to be here in the first place. We made it this far. I'm really proud of how we performed," another student said.
"You know, people say we're just an academic school. We're a basketball school, too," another student said.
"I think everybody gave it a really good fight until the very end, so I'm just proud to go here and be a Tiger," another student said.
