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
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.
Cornell men pick up where they left off by pushing tempo
The Cornell men have picked up right where they left off last season.
Through three games, the Big Red are 2-1. They lost at the buzzer on opening night to Boston College, 79-77, before routing SUNY Delhi in a lopsided 57-point laugher.
Cornell defeated Saint Francis (Pa.), 80-77 Monday despite surrendering multiple double-digit leads. The Big Red led 70-57 with 5:11 remaining, but several Cornell fouls gave the Red Flash opportunities at the free-throw line. Max Watson, a junior college transfer, split a pair of free throws in the closing seconds for the Big Red, and a St. Francis half-court heave missed the mark, securing the Cornell victory.
The impressive part about Cornell’s quick start has been the changed offensive approach from Cornell coach Brian Earl. A disciple of Pete Carril, Earl came to East Hill in 2016 with the typical slow, methodical Princeton offense. In the 2019-20 season, Cornell ranked 314th in adjusted tempo and 325th in average possession length, per KenPom.
But after a year off from the COVID-19 pandemic, Earl came into 2021 with a much quicker pace. Cornell ranked 16th in adjusted tempo and third in average possession length, per KenPom.
The Big Red have continued that trend this season. In three games, Cornell is 16th in adjusted tempo and 17th in average possession length amongst 363 Division l teams. In comparison, former Princeton teammate Mitch Henderson’s Princeton squad is 207th in adjusted tempo and 256th in average possession length after a convincing 94-64 win over UMBC Monday.
Cornell has also continued its balanced scoring approach. Seven players are averaging eight or more points through the Big Red’s first three contests, led by senior Greg Dolan at 15.7 points per contest. On Monday, Sean Hansen scored 26 points to lead the Big Red, blowing away his previous high of 13 points last season.
And the team has much more room to grow, too. Sophomore guard Nazir Williams, although scoreless Monday, has shown flashes of 20-point-per-game potential and has seemingly improved his decision-making. The same goes for junior guard Chris Manon, who is averaging 10.7 points per game.
Junior forward Keller Boothby, who shot 49% from deep last season, has made just six of his first 21 treys this season. That clip is sure to improve.
After Cornell faces crosstown foe Ithaca College on Friday, it enters the most crucial portion of nonconference play.
On November 22, the Big Red host Canisius, which is fresh off an overtime victory against St. Bonaventure. Three days later, Cornell travels to New Jersey to play Monmouth in its first season as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. Six days later, the Big Red will travel to Delaware before heading home to battle Lafayette on December 4.
Games against Miami and Syracuse, both projected NCAA Tournament teams, are sandwiched around a 10-day break for exams.
We’ll know a lot more about this Cornell squad in the coming days and weeks. But so far, the Big Red seem to be clicking well. Earl is continuing to build in Ithaca, and the reigning Ivy League Coach of the Year is hungry to lead Cornell back to Ivy Madness and, potentially, the program’s first NCAA Tournament since 2010.
Princeton men lost tale of two halves at Navy but gained key continuity inside from Kellman
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
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 Men’s Preseason Poll
Only five points separated the top three teams in the Ivy League Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll, and our final tabulation was even tighter. Just three points separated the team atop IHO contributors’ preseason poll.
Yale gets the slight nod here, with our contributors trusting James Jones to lead the Bulldogs to their fifth Ivy League title in an eight-season span in a bid to represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament for a third straight time. Penn, the Ivy League preseason poll’s top team above Princeton by a single point, also finished a single point above Princeton in our standings. Our contributors saw potential for success in a roster that returns most of the key players from last year’s squad that placed third in the Ivy standings. We’ve got Princeton pegged to finish third, aided in their quest to repeat as Ivy League champions by returning 2021-22 Ivy Player of the Year Tosan Evbuomwan but losing significant backcourt production from last year’s conference title team.
Harvard was the clear No. 4 finisher in our poll, a showing that would improve upon the disappointing sixth-place result that locked the Crimson out of the Ivy League Tournament on its home floor last season. We have Cornell ranked slightly ahead of Brown as the Big Red look to build on last season’s overachieving Ivy League Tournament berth and the Bears look to bounce back from an underachieving sixth-place finish (tied with Harvard) a season ago. Columbia and Dartmouth tied in our voting tally at the bottom of the standings as both programs look to secure their first Ivy League Tournament appearances.
2022-23 IHO Women’s Preseason Poll
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.
Princeton women ranked No. 24 in AP preseason poll, poised to be class of Ivy League again
Carla Berube’s Princeton Tigers extended an impressive run of greatness in the 2021-22 season which began over a decade ago under Courtney Banghart.
The Tigers spent most of last season nationally ranked en route to an overall record of 25-5, ending with a near-upset of Indiana in the NCAA Tournament round of 32. The Tigers defeated Kentucky, the SEC Tournament champion, in the first round.
Now the Tigers are ranked again, placing 24th in the Associated Press’ Top 25 released Monday. Princeton was also projected to finish atop the Ivy League in the conference preseason poll released Monday.
Pete Carril remembered
The Princeton basketball community lost a father figure Monday with the death of its legendary coach, Pete Carril.
It is difficult to express in a short essay the importance of Pete Carril to followers of Princeton basketball or to the game of basketball itself. Most of the epitaphs I digested in the immediate aftermath of the news of Carril’s passing emphasized his coaching record – 514 wins, which remains an all-time record among Ivy League coaches – and his signature style of coaching, including his frumpy demeanor, and of course his perfection of the Princeton offense, which became stylish after Princeton defeated UCLA in the 1996 NCAA tournament.
Princeton coaching legend Pete Carril dies at 92
Legendary former Princeton men’s basketball coach Pete Carril, arguably the face of Ivy League basketball for all time, has died.
Carril died at 92 Monday morning, Princeton Athletics announced in a statement from his family.
“The Carril family is sad to report that Coach Peter J. Carril passed away peacefully this morning, the statement read. “We kindly ask that you please respect our privacy at this time as we process our loss and handle necessary arrangements. More information will be forthcoming in the following days.”
In his 29 years leading Princeton, Carril cemented his place as one of the most impactful innovators in the history of the sport. From 1967 to 1996, Carril’s Tigers won 514 games and 13 Ivy League titles by playing his way – smart, selective and disciplined.
Carril will forever be linked to the ‘Princeton offense,’ an offensive strategy that neutralized faster, more athletic and less versatile opponents by slowing games down through prolific passing to patiently set up high-percentage shots through screens and cuts.
Decades before it was en vogue, Carril emphasized ball-handling and perimeter shooting from all five players on the floor to complement his stingy defenses.
“Pete Carril’s fingerprints are all over the game of basketball, and will remain so for generations to come,” Craig Robinson, Carril’s former two-time Ivy Player of the Year standout and executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said in a statement. “His signature offensive style became the defining characteristic of the Princeton program, and his philosophies continue to influence how offensive systems are developed to this day.”
All of Carril’s successors have either coached or played under him.
But while many coaches have tried to replicate and build upon his offensive patterns, no one could ever hope to duplicate his consummately curmudgeonly image.
The vertically challenged Carril was a memorable presence on the sideline, usually wearing a rumpled sweater and letting referees know where he stood in more ways than one.
“I was tough to referee a game for,” Carril acknowledged in his 1997 book ‘The Smart from the Strong: The Basketball Philosophy of Pete Carril.’ ” … I’ve seen about half a dozen good refs.”
Carril held himself to a similarly high standard.
“It is important to do things right and it is equally important to be good at what you are doing,” Carril wrote in his book.
Every generation and corner of the college basketball world – from Old Nassau to 33rd Street – agreed after Carril’s death Monday that he was among the very best at what he did.
“Your impact on basketball on basketball is evident every time someone steps on the floor, but your impact in my life is bigger than you probably ever knew,” 2020 Princeton basketball alumnus Devin Cannady said of Carril in a Twitter post.
“Pete was the ultimate competitor and warrior, and his teams were always the most difficult to play against,” Bob Weinhauer, coach of Princeton’s archrival Penn, said in a statement released by Penn Athletics. “We had such a great rivalry, and I hope he knew that everyone at Penn had the utmost respect for his teams.”
Carril retired as Princeton head coach in 1996, moving on to become an assistant for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, where he was known as “Coachie.”
“During his time in Sacramento, Coachie left an indelible imprint on the Kings organization and the many players who benefited from his tutelage,” the Kings said in a Twitter post. “Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones in during this difficult time.”
“RIP to a man who changed basketball, and who changed the lives of so many — including mine — for the better,” 1998 Princeton basketball alumnus and Time magazine senior sports correspondent Sean Gregory wrote on Twitter. “Thanks Coach.”
Bruce Lefkowitz, a 1987 Penn basketball alumnus and standout, called competing against Carril “an honor” on Twitter.
“He was a true legend of the game,” Lefkowitz wrote. “Nothing was more grueling than ‘Princeton Week’ when [we] had to defend the Princeton offense for the whole practice.”
More than a quarter-century after his coaching run at Princeton ended, Carril is still the all-time winningest coach in Ivy men’s basketball history.
Many defining moments in Ivy hoops history happened on Carril’s watch. Princeton’s 43-41 upset win over defending national champion UCLA in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and Princeton’s near-upset of No. 1 Georgetown as a No. 16 seed in 1989, memorably characterized by Gregory and fellow Princeton graduate Alexander Wolff as the game that saved March Madness – are the two most well-known moments.
That was the smart taking from the strong on the game’s biggest stage.
IHO writer Palestra Pete recalled a friend who played for Penn in the 1970s telling him that one time when the team was getting ready to play Princeton, then-Penn coach Chuck Daly told the players the things they would have to do particularly well that game, “because we know we’ll be outcoached.”
“In this life, the big, strong guys are always taking from the smaller, weaker guys … but the smart take from the strong,” Carril recalled his father, a Spanish immigrant who worked 39 years for the Bethlehem Steel Company, telling him and his sister. ” … An athlete who is fundamentally sound and plays intelligently and hard will generally come out on top.”