For Princeton women’s basketball, now is the time to regroup, refocus and regain the hunter mentality

Is there such a thing as a good loss in college basketball?  If you’re a top-25 team riding a 15-game winning streak, probably not.  

And yet …  

On Saturday afternoon at Levien Gymnasium in New York City, the Princeton women’s basketball team lost its first game since early December and its first Ivy contest since Jan. 2023.  

The loss has consequences for Princeton.  The Tigers let loose a 15-game winning streak, what had been the fourth-longest stretch in the nation.  On Monday, the Tigers will likely lose their national ranking, an elite status they’ve enjoyed for the past three weeks.  

But perhaps most importantly, the Tigers lost sole possession of first place in the Ivy League standings.  Tied at 10-1 in conference play, Princeton and Columbia now appear to be on course to repeat as co-Ivy League champions.  

There is no shame in sharing a title with Columbia. Again. However, there’s no denying it would have been satisfying for Princeton to have run the Ivy gauntlet undefeated and regain their crown as an undisputed champion.

So, yes, the loss to Columbia was a setback for the Orange and Black, and I’m sure every member of the program had a pit in their stomachs on Saturday night after losing to Columbia for the second time in Princeton’s last four clashes with the Lions going back to last season.  

Columbia is on a roll right now and threatening to steal Princeton’s thunder as the darling of the Ivy League. 

And yet, this is precisely why I think it might have been a good thing for coach Carla Berube’s squad to lose a game and leave behind the winning streak. 

Let’s start with the fact that Saturday’s game was hardly a blowout and therefore it was not even remotely an indication that Princeton is outmatched by the Lions.  In fact, Princeton was one basket away from gaining a regular-season sweep of Columbia.  

Let’s also acknowledge that the Tigers were concluding a grueling four-game road trip in which they had struggled twice already to win against a much lower-ranked opponent.  To finish a stretch of four consecutive Ivy League road games at Columbia on Senior Day is what is known in the hockey world as a “scheduled loss.”  

Despite this adversity, the Tigers were one made shot away from coming out unscathed.

Next, let’s consider that the consequences of losing Saturday could have been worse.  

Although it stings to lose sole possession of first place in the conference standings, the Tigers still have the inside track to the No. 1 seed in the Ivy League Tournament because they own the all-important tie-breaker of having the higher NET ranking than Columbia.

Speaking of Princeton’s NET ranking, the Tigers were fortunate to have lost only a modest bit of ground in the rankings as a result of Saturday’s loss.  The Tigers entered the game with a NET ranking of 26 and fell only three spots, to 29, after losing by two on the road to Columbia.  (Curiously, Columbia stayed put at No. 61 despite gaining the equivalent of a Quad 1 win by beating Princeton).  

So long as the Tigers don’t stumble again during the regular season, they should still be in good shape to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament should they fail to punch a ticket at Ivy Madness next month.

But beyond the limited damage of Saturday’s loss, I feel this was just the right kind of wake-up call for the Tigers, who were looking a bit complacent in recent weeks.  

Don’t be fooled by the huge margin of victory at Yale last Saturday.  That game was an outlier compared to Princeton’s other recent contests.  Prior to the Yale game, the Tigers had been outplayed for significant stretches far more often than earlier in the season.  Not counting the Yale game, Princeton lost five of the 12 quarters it played against Penn, Brown and Columbia during its extended road trip.   

At times, the Tigers haven’t looked as crisp in their execution of their offense.  In Saturday’s matchup against Columbia, the Tigers struggled with their entry passes to their post players.  As a result, they scored only 38 points in the paint compared to 54 back on Jan. 20 in their first meeting with Columbia.  

Perhaps the burden of bearing a national ranking has weighed heavily on the Tigers.  In all likelihood, they won’t have to worry about that once the new rankings come out on Monday, and maybe that’s a good thing.  

Now is the perfect time for Berube and company to hit the reset button for the home stretch of the season.  The Tigers have the luxury of closing out the regular season with three straight home games against teams they have already beaten by double-digits on the road.

One dynamic the Tigers need to rediscover during the homestretch is the feeling of being the hunter rather than the hunted.  Having a predator mentality suits this team and this coaching staff.  The Tigers thrive when they feel like they have something to prove.  

Conversely, this Princeton squad hasn’t always played its best with the target on its back.  Since gaining a national ranking earlier in the season, Princeton has struggled at times to maintain its poise under pressure.  Certainly that was the case on Saturday when the Tigers missed 43 out of 70 shots, including more than a dozen layups right under the basket.  

But now the Tigers have a chance to go on their own hunting mission, led by three indomitable seniors:  Kaitlyn Chen, Ellie Mitchell and Chet Nweke.  It’s time for this historic trio of seniors, with a little help from their friends, to lead their team on a victory tour, starting with Harvard on Friday at 5 p.m. at Jadwin Gym.  

After that, the Tigers will need to sweep away a weak Dartmouth team and then rally a week later on Senior Day to slay a familiar foe, the Penn Quakers.  Do that, and step one of the victory tour will be complete:  a sixth Ivy League regular season title.

Step two is to win the Ivy League Tournament – call it Revenge in Levien – and step three is to make a run in the NCAA tournament.  We’ll talk more about these possibilities in future columns.

Meanwhile, it will be helpful to Princeton for the attention to shift over to Columbia for a few weeks.  I for one will be watching closely to see how well Megan Griffith’s squad handles the pressure of being in the limelight.

Although the loss to Columbia on Saturday was disappointing and humbling, there’s still a lot to play for in the coming weeks for the Princeton women’s basketball team.

If this special group of players and coaches can seize an opportunity to regroup, refocus, and regain a hunter mentality, they can reach new heights of success and hoist new banners in the rafters of Jadwin Gym.  

Something tells me the best is yet to come for the Orange and Black.