The Princeton men’s basketball team had a chance to make history on Sunday afternoon in a matinee matchup with St. Joseph’s at Hagan Arena. A win and the 9-0 Tigers would have started the season 10-0 for the first time in the illustrious history of Princeton basketball.
It didn’t happen. The Hawks defended their home court, 74-70, in front of a raucous crowd and halted Princeton’s nine-game winning streak, the second longest in the nation.
Here are three takeaways from Princeton’s first setback of the season:
1. Turnovers prevented the Tigers from extending their historic winning streak
One of Princeton’s greatest strengths so far this season has been its efficient ball-handling. Coming into Sunday’s game, the Tigers averaged fewer than nine turnovers per game, tied for fifth-best in the nation. St. Joseph’s, however, disrupted the Tigers by packing the paint and forcing the Tigers to work the ball around the perimeter in search of an open shot. The result was 14 Tiger turnovers, their highest total of the season. Even worse, the home team converted Princeton’s 14 miscues into 18 points, one of the primary reasons the Tigers lost this game.
2. Princeton failed for the first time this season to establish an inside game
Maybe it was the Hawks’ 2-3 zone or Caden Pierce’s foul trouble, but for some reason, Princeton didn’t have confidence to work the ball inside or dribble penetrate often enough in this game.
Coming into the contest, Princeton had relied on balanced scoring from outside and inside the paint to outscore its opponents 9 consecutive times. On Sunday, the Tigers seemed intent on kicking the ball out nearly every time they entered the paint. As a result, Princeton launched a whopping 38 three-balls out of 55 attempted field goals, or nearly 70% of their shots. Of this barrage of treys, the Tigers actually made 16 (compared to only seven for the Hawks), which kept the Tigers competitive throughout the game. But Princeton’s over-reliance on the three tamed the Tigers’ aggression, kept Princeton off the free throw line (until the very end of the game), and allowed the hosts to stay out of foul trouble.
Overall, Princeton attempted only 17 shots from inside the arc in this game, its lowest total of the season. In contrast, in its 81-70 win over Drexel on Wednesday night, the Tigers flipped the script and attempted 70% of its field goals from two-point distance.
Why was Princeton unwilling to go to the hoop in this game? Give credit to the St. Joseph’s defense, especially the play of Rasheer Fleming, a 6-foot-9 forward from Camden, N.J., who blocked Matt Allocco three times in the game. Allocco had by far his worst game of 2023-24, making only two of 11 shots for a season-low six points
However, it wasn’t just Allocco who was unable to penetrate the paint on Sunday. Xaivian Lee, who led the Tigers in scoring with 20 points, attempted only five two-point field goals in this contest. Lee’s usual slashing drives to the basket were hard to come by in this game as the Tigers settled for jump shots all day long.
Finally, Caden Pierce’s foul trouble throughout the game played a huge role in disrupting Princeton’s flow on offense. The sensational sophomore from Glen Ellyn, Ill. picked up his second foul four minutes into the game, which forced coach Mitch Henderson to sit his top rebounder and third-leading scorer for most of the first half.
With five minutes to go in the game and the Tigers trailing by only one point, Pierce picked up his fifth and disqualifying foul. He ended up playing only 26 minutes, by far his fewest of the season and the fewest of any Princeton starter. Pierce’s absence during crunch time was extremely impactful, especially in the final 30 seconds when the Tigers, down by only two, couldn’t corral a defensive rebound under their own basket. Had Pierce been in the game, the Tigers likely would have had possession with a chance to tie or take the lead (ala the Furman game); instead, they were forced to foul and the game slipped away.
3. The bench comes alive
Despite the disappointing loss, there were some bright spots for the Tigers. None was bigger than the emergence of two bench players – Jack Scott and Dalen Davis. Scott, the son of former Tigers player and coach Joe Scott, played significant minutes in relief of Pierce and scored seven points in the first half on 3-for-3 shooting. His first-half performance kept the Tigers within scratching distance while Pierce rode the bench.
But the real revelation today was a breakout performance by Dalen Davis, a 6-foot freshman from Chicago who single-handedly kept Princeton in this game with an electrifying 13 points in 14 minutes on 5-for-5 shooting, all in the second half. Davis looked unguardable at times and his step-back three at the four-minute mark of second half, his third consecutive trey of the game, gave Princeton a 65-63 lead.
Davis’s one blemish on the day was two missed free throws with just over a minute left and Princeton trailing by two. His misses came after Lee, Princeton’s best free throw shooter, also missed two shots from the charity stripe. Overall, the Tigers made only two of six free-throw attempts, another key factor in their demise. In contrast, the unflappable Hawks sank six of seven foul shots down the stretch to seal the win for the home team.
The Tigers fan base will rue this loss since a win not only would have made history for the program but likely also would have netted an appearance in Monday’s Associated Press Top 25 Poll.
The great consolation for the Orange and Black, however, is the recent stellar play of Princeton’s bench, especially Scott and Davis. Princeton’s magnificent run to open the season has come almost entirely from its five starters. But to win an Ivy championship, the Tigers will need to go deeper than five players. So while Princeton lost the battle to the Hawks today, the Tigers may have found the formula for winning the war that is the Ivy League campaign.