Princeton

“Leper treatment” for top Ivy men’s teams needs to stop

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Princeton men’s coach Mitch Henderson has struggled to line up strong in-state nonconference competition for his Tigers, but not due to a lack of trying. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

What do Hofstra, Colgate, Siena, Loyola Chicago, UMass and Vermont all have in common? They are all solid mid-major men’s basketball programs and willing to travel to the home gym of a top Ivy team.

It doesn’t seem like a big deal on the surface, but it is.

Consider Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights have one natural rival in their 153 years of playing college sports. Not Penn State. Not Syracuse.

Princeton.

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Princeton men overcome Northeastern to win London Basketball Classic

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Ivy Hoops Online writer George “Toothless Tiger” Clark on how Princeton men’s basketball pulled off a great escape to nick Northeastern and win the London Basketball Classic:

Princeton men outflank Army, 74-66, in London Basketball Classic

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Ivy Hoops Online writer George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps how Princeton topped Army to advance to the title game of the London Basketball Classic in a Thanksgiving performance that Tiger fans can be grateful for:

Princeton men hold off Marist, 62-55

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Mitch Henderson led Princeton to a second straight road win with its victory at Marist. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Ivy Hoops Online writer George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps how Princeton came out on top in a tale of two halves at Marist Saturday night:

 

Princeton women shoot their way past Fordham in ensemble effort

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Junior guard Kaitlyn Chen helped lead Princeton to a 70-67 win over Fordham Wednesday evening, posting 19 points on 8-for-9 shooting, four rebounds, three assists and one block in 30 minutes. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)
Carla Berube’s Princeton squad squared off Wednesday evening against a Fordham program that fielded a team that defeated the Tigers last season in the Bronx, 76-67.
But for the second straight game, Princeton avenged a loss from last season by hanging on to notch a narrow 70-67 win over a very talented and veteran Rams team at Jadwin Gym. The Tigers (3-1, 0-0 Ivy) had turned the tables on in-state rival Seton Hall two nights earlier.

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The dam breaks for Princeton men in 94-64 romp at UMBC

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Princeton men’s coach Mitch Henderson watched his shooters misfire repeatedly in the Tigers’ first two games, both close losses. Henderson wasn’t worried.

“I know these kids can shoot, and I know the shots will start to fall,” Henderson said.

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Mitchell dominates the glass as Princeton women prevail at Seton Hall, 62-58

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Junior forward Ellie Mitchell posted an eye-popping 23 rebounds and six steals to go with her eight points in Princeton’s win at Seton Hall Monday night. (Photo by Erica Denhoff)

Carla Berube knew her Tigers were in for a rough ride at Seton Hall Monday night.

The Pirates, one of the beasts of the Big East, handled Princeton last year at Jadwin Gym, 70-60, on their way to 24 wins and a long run in the WNIT, reaching the championship game after dispatching Columbia in the Elite Eight.

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Princeton men lost tale of two halves at Navy but gained key continuity inside from Kellman

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Princeton took on the challenge of playing Navy on Veterans’ Day in the nightcap of the 2022 Veterans Classic doubleheader Friday night.

The resulting 74-73 loss for Princeton was a tale of two halves – and hopefully an instructive one for the Tigers.
Houston overwhelmed St. Joseph’s in the opener and appearing poised for another deep postseason run after its Elite Eight run a season ago.
The Tigers then faced off against the Midshipmen, which last year fielded a 21-win team that fell to Penn alum-led Colgate in the Patriot League Tournament final.
The Tigers (0-2) got off to a promising 9-2 start before the wheels came off in what was one of the worst 20-minute stretches of the Mitch Henderson era. Navy (2-0) was the superior team at both ends of the floor in the first stanza, shooting 72% from the field and canning five threes. The Tigers shot 12-for-26 but could hit only one three-pointer, which has been the staple of their offense in recent seasons. The 46 points surrendered by Princeton in the first half created a 20-point halftime deficit that appeared insurmountable as the teams left the floor.
Henderson tried numerous combinations, deploying 11 different players. Nothing worked. Senior forward Keeshawn Kellman was again a bright spot for the Tigers after his strong opening-night performance against Hofstra. Kellman establishing a strong presence in close that will be difficult to contain, especially when he and reigning Ivy Player of the Year Tosan Evbuomwan gain experience playing with each other. But when the Tigers struggle to score from beyond the arc and elsewhere, the pressure on Henderson’s bigs inside will keep build.
To say that the Tigers changed the game’s narrative in the second half would be a gross understatement.
Junior guard Matt Allocco got things going with a three-point play to open the half, igniting a marvelous 24-4 run, largely fueled by Kellman and Evbuomwan, cutting a 20-point deficit to just four, 50-46, after seven minutes of action.
Navy restored order at that point, mounting its own 14-4 run over a seven-minute stretch. Kellman continued his incredible play underneath, spurring another 8-0 Tigers run. It was clear the Tigers were not going away quietly.
Henderson threw a defensive curve at the Middies, deploying his troops in a 1-3-1 zone for much of the second half. The move confused and cooled off the hot shooting of the home team.
Kellman once again sparked a Tigers run at the 4:35 mark, registering seven points in two minutes, capped by a long three from rookie forward Caden Pierce. The Navy lead had shrunk to two with 2:23 to go.
Navy held on, however, restoring the lead to six. An Allocco three with 51 seconds left pulled Princeton within three, 73-70.
A Navy free throw followed by another Allocco bomb made it a one-point game with three ticks on the clock.
The Tigers were forced to foul, but the rattled Midshipmen missed both. Allocco managed to get off another long range shot as time expired. Many observers, including the CBS Sports Network broadcast team, believed Allocco was fouled. But the no-call ended the game with Navy on the winning end of a 74-73 score.
Tiger fans are hoping the team that showed up for the second half will be the one on the floor going forward. Defensively, the Tigers were superb, holding Navy to just 28 second-half tallies. On offense, the Tigers hit five of 10 shots from three-point range. Allocco posted career highs of 19 points and four treys. Kellman led the team with 20 points. Evbuomwan was “held” to 15 points, adding nine rebounds.
Henderson’s team will stay in the Old Line State for a Monday evening contest against UMBC, hoping to notch its first victory.

No. 24 Princeton women push past Temple, Princeton men fade late versus Hofstra in season-opening Jadwin doubleheader

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Presenting Ivy Hoops Online writer George Clark’s audio reports on Princeton’s Jadwin Gym doubleheader consisting of a women’s matchup with Temple and a men’s showdown versus Hofstra.

How the No. 24 Princeton women dispatched Temple, 67-49, in a characteristically defense-oriented game at Jadwin:

 

What sparked the Hofstra 12-1 run that secured the Pride an 83-77 victory over the Tigers and how coach Mitch Henderson retooled the starting lineup after key departures from last year’s Ivy title team:

2022-23 IHO Women’s Preseason Poll

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It’s still Princeton’s conference until another Ivy proves that it isn’t. Our contributors are united in believing that the Tigers will stay on top in 2022-23, with Megan Griffith’s ascendant Columbia program again placing second.

But there wasn’t consensus on how the rest of the top half of the league will fill out.

Penn could break back into the Ivy League Tournament after missing it for the first time last season, but we expect the Red & Blue to draw stiff competition from Harvard and Yale in their first years under new coaches.

Will #2bidivy happen in the league for only the second time in conference history? It very well could, and the bottom half of the conference is likely to be substantially stronger this season as Brown and Dartmouth return more experienced rosters under coaches that now have a year of Ivy play under their belts.

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