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On Thanksgiving Eve, the Princeton men traveled to the Jersey Shore to play the Monmouth Hawks in West Long Branch. This in-state rivalry has developed into an interesting and mostly competitive affair in the previous decade.
Sadly, for Tiger fans, this game was neither interesting nor competitive, particularly in the second half.
Although the Tigers prevailed in a back-and-forth first half, 46-39, the Hawks seized the momentum in the final minutes, closing the period on a 9-2 run.
The big question for Tiger fans as their team took the court to face the Temple Owls in Philadelphia Tuesday night was the status of captain and team leader Abby Meyers. A leg injury kept Meyers on the bench in the final period of Saturday’s nine-point loss at Rhode Island, after a career-best 23 points. Thankfully, Abby was in the starting lineup against the Owls, suffering no ill effects.
Carla Berube’s quintet exploded out of the blocks, racing to a 15-0 advantage before the Owls could get their gun out of its holster. The first quarter ended with the Tigers up 17-4. Princeton’s fresh legs on defense gave the Tigers another trademark single-digit yield.
Temple found itself in the second stanza, holding the Tigers to 10 points while closing to within 11 at the half, 27-16.
The Princeton men traveled across the country to meet Oregon State, winner of last year’s Pac-12 championship and Elite 8 darling. Tiger fans recall the six-year tenure Craig Robinson had as head coach in Corvallis.
The Tigers held the lead for most of Sunday afternoon’s contest. In the end, Princeton managed to survive a late run by the home team, which came from 11 points down in the final five minutes to get within one.
Powered by the best all-around game in the career of senior guard Ethan Wright, Princeton managed an 81-80 victory.
The Princeton Tigers concluded a very busy opening week of the new season tonight, entertaining the Red Foxes of Marist and coach John Dunne. It was the fourth contest for coach Mitch Henderson’s club in eight days. Tiger fans will remember Dunne from his days at St. Peter’s whom he coached in a game played at Dillon Gym, the only time the old gym was used for Division I men in over 50 years.
Princeton expected an exciting game. Marist lost its season opener in overtime against American, which is coached by former Tiger Mike Brennan, On November 12, the Foxes thrashed Ivy foe Columbia by 15.
The Tigers put together their best outing thus far, administering a sound beating to the visitors, 80-61. Although the Tigers (3-1) posted four players in double figures the real story tonight was written at the defensive end. Princeton’s harassing swarms, featuring a lot of doubling down low was reminiscent of the 2017 Ivy champions. The Foxes (1-2) were forced to settle for a lot of uncomfortable shots. For the evening Marist shot 36% from the floor and 30% from deep. These percentages were higher in the second half when the outcome was no longer in doubt.
Announcers and writers around the nation focused a lot of attention to the 600-plus days between games for the Ivy League. While many expected the teams to be a bit rusty out of the gates, the Ancient Eight acquitted itself quite well in the season’s first week.
Thirteen of the league’s 16 teams had at least one win, with the Princeton and Columbia women notching three victories each. The Brown men almost upset No. 19 UNC without their top player, and the Princeton men just missed out on winning the Asheville Championship.
Check out some of the highlights from a very successful and welcome week of Ivy hoops:
You know all the top coaches in the women’s game. Actually, you know them all by their first names.
Geno. Kim. Tara. Dawn. Brenda. And the list goes on. Every fan of the game would come up with those names quickly.
But most would struggle to come up with another. And it belongs. Maybe not in November 2021. But it will by March 2022.
The name is Carla. Yes, Princeton’s Carla Berube.
George “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps Princeton’s 87-80 loss Sunday night to the larger Golden Gophers in an Asheville Championship final that took two extra periods at Harrah’s Cherokee Center:
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George “Toothless Tiger” Clark reports on Princeton’s 69-40 shutdown of Boston University at Jadwin Gym, with junior guard Julia Cunningham posting her first career double-double as the program extended its NCAA-best winning streak to 25 games:
Audio PlayerGeorge “Toothless Tiger” Clark recaps two huge wins for Princeton Friday: the women’s 76-56 victory at Delaware in junior guard Julia Cunningham’s best game as a Tiger and the men’s 66-62 triumph over South Carolina in the opening game of the Asheville Championship with a stellar performance from junior forward Tosan Evbuomwan:
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