Carril's Tigers had the nation's best scoring defense in 14 out of 21 years from 1975 to 1996, including eight in a row from 1988 to 1996. Games against Princeton were typically low-scoring affairs; for example, the 1990-91 and 1991-92 Tigers are the only teams to hold opponents below 50 points per game since the shot clock became mandatory for the 1985-86 season. Partly due to these factors, while his Tigers only won three NCAA Tournament games, they were known as a very dangerous first-round opponent; seven of their first round losses were by fewer than ten points.