1989 Georgetown vs. Princeton men's basketball game

1989 NCAA tournament
east regional first round

The Providence Civic Center in 1990
Princeton Tigers Georgetown Hoyas (17–7) (22–4) 49 50 Head coach: Pete Carril Head coach: John Thompson Jr.
AP: NR Coaches: NR AP: 2 Coaches: 2
1st half 2nd half Total Princeton Tigers 29 20 49 Georgetown Hoyas 21 29 50
Date	March 17, 1989
Venue	Providence Civic Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Referees	Dick Paparo, Charles Range, J. Don Ferguson
Attendance	12,106
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Mike Gorman, Ron Perry

On March 17, 1989, during the first round of the 1989 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, the Georgetown University Hoyas played a college basketball game against the Princeton University Tigers at Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island. The Hoyas, who were seeded first in the East regional bracket, faced the Tigers, who were seeded 16th in the East.

The Hoyas, who were strong favorites, won by an unexpectedly narrow margin of 50–49, only securing their win by preventing a Princeton basket on the final possession of the game. Had Princeton won, they would have been the first 16-seed in tournament history to defeat a 1-seed, a feat that was not achieved until UMBC upset Virginia in 2018.

Media outlets have dubbed the Georgetown–Princeton match-up as "the game that saved March Madness".^[1] The game is credited with halting discussions to downsize the NCAA tournament by eliminating automatic bids for smaller conferences. It also reportedly factored into CBS's decisions to renew their NCAA contract later that year, and to obtain exclusive broadcasting rights for the first-round games two years later.