Princeton men need to tighten up defense after falling short versus Yale

Preseason Ivy favorite Yale returned to one of its comfortable road venues, Jadwin Gym, to upset the Tigers, 80-74. The Tigers have shown a propensity to dig themselves into early holes. This time the hole was too deep, the Eli sharpshooters too deadly. Yale’s 17-point lead at the half, boosted by the Tigers’ surrendering an inexcusable 1-on-2 layup after holding for the last shot, proved to be insurmountable.

In the second half, the Tigers played much closer to their preferred game, making nine of 12 from deep to get back into contention, at one point closing within two. Even when Azar Swain and Jalen Gabbidon were rested in the middle of the second half, the Tigers failed to take advantage. Yale actually added to its lead.

Jaelin Llewellyn dismissed injury concerns to fuel the Tigers’ comeback effort, canning six of 12 shots from deep and scoring 23 points. Ethan Wright and Drew Friberg went a combined 3-for-14 from beyond the arc, with most of those misses coming in the first half.

The second half shows that Princeton can certainly play with Yale but must defend better. This game demonstrates why Yale was favored to win the Ivy crown this season. Since the Tigers will spend much of February on the road, they need to find three wins to ensure their berth in Ivy Madness.

 

Princeton men building early momentum toward Ivy title as dominance over Penn persists

Mitch Henderson’s dominance over the Penn Quakers continues. Since 2012, Princeton, after yesterday’s satisfying 74-64 triumph at Jadwin, is 15-4 against its most bitter rival.

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Princeton men hang on to best Brown, 76-74

Love that home cooking! The Princeton Tigers, whose opening game on the road against Harvard was postponed, played its third straight Ivy League game in Jadwin Gym’s friendly confines on Saturday afternoon against the Brown Bears.

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Matt Allocco beats Big Red with birthday buzzer-beater for Princeton men

Princeton’s stirring comeback win over Columbia Friday night, when the Tigers unleashed a 51-point second half avalanche, thrilled the announced crowd of 35 fans. Word quickly spread that something special was unfolding in Jadwin Gym. Another seven of the Tiger faithful showed up for Saturday night’s welcome home party for favorite son and Cornell coach Brian Earl.

They saw something special.

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Princeton men take over in tale of two halves to top Columbia

Princeton and Columbia squared off to open their 2022 Ivy League seasons before a Jadwin
Gymnasium crowd of about two dozen faculty, staff and several members of the Tiger women’s
team. They were treated to one of the best performances over an entire half that the Tigers
have managed thus far.

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The Princeton men’s fun and fearless start to the 2021-22 season

Senior forward Elijah Barnes posted nine points in just decisive 13 minutes in the Tigers’ win over UMBC, just one of many satisfying finishes Princeton has managed in nonconference play. (Princeton Athletics)

Princeton men’s basketball’s Twitter hashtag reads “#MakeShots”.

So far, the 2021-22 Tigers men’s basketball team has done just that. 

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Princeton men finish strong to best UMBC, powered by Elijah Barnes

Senior forward Elijah Barnes posted nine points in just decisive 13 minutes in the Tigers’ win over UMBC. (Princeton Athletics)

Princeton continued its recent hot streak Monday night, winning its fourth straight and ninth of 12 overall by dispatching the Retrievers of UMBC at Jadwin Gym, 89-77.

Although Princeton (9-3) was in charge, UMBC (5-5) was very much in it until the final six minutes.

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Princeton men leap over Lafayette, 84-73

Prior to the start of this afternoon’s game at Lafayette, Princeton coach Mitch Henderson was asked to assess his team’s 7-3 start to this season.

“If you told me we would win seven of the first 10, I would have been pleased, to say the least,” Henderson replied.

His team would reach 8-3 after dispatching Fran O’Hanlon’s Leopards, 81-63. Lafayette dropped to 2-8, including losses to Penn, Cornell, and the Tigers. Columbia’s woes are clearly shown by its loss at home to Lafayette, 73-50.

This game was valuable to the Tigers for several reasons, but none was more important than the fact that they would have to find a way to win without much offensive production from their go-to guy this season, Tosan Evbuomwan. When the opening tip was easily controlled by the Leopards’ Neal Quinn, a 7-foot junior from Allendale, N.J., Henderson realized that Evbuomwan might have his hands full with an opponent 4 feet taller and 40 pounds heavier.

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