.png&width=24&type=webp)
1998-99 Season In Review
November 18, 1999 | Men's Basketball
You have three points! You have three points! Almost 16 minutes gone, and that's how many points Princeton has. Three. As in Penn 29, Princeton 3. And at one point, it was 3-0 Princeton.
Once in a lifetime seasons don't come around twice in a row. Back on the night of Nov. 18, 1998, it became apparent that this was a new year for Princeton basketball.
Princeton, coming off a 27-2 season and a Top 10 national ranking, came back to earth quickly in the 1998-99 follow-up. Starting a lineup of two senior holdovers from the dream team with a sophomore and two freshmen, Princeton was spanked by Lafayette 63-47 and looked as out-of-sync as any Princeton team in memory.
The next few games were hardly encouraging. Princeton needed overtime to knock off a mediocre UNC Wilmington team, and a 27-point win over lowly Monmouth was very close and very ugly for a long time.
That left Princeton at 2-1 heading into the ISU Cyclone Challenge. If you thought it would be a warm day in Iowa in December before Princeton would score 70 points and lose, you were right. The temperature reached an unheard-of-for-July 80 degrees outside the Hilton Coliseum, where Princeton blew a 10-point lead with three minutes remaining to Western Illinois and lost 71-70 in overtime. A 20-point win over North Texas, who would go almost three months before winning a game, was hardly consolation.
So three weeks into the season, Princeton was 3-2 and, by any definition, in trouble.
Even after a pair of Chris Young foul shots stop the run, it is still 29-5 Penn late in the first half. The teams trade baskets to 33-7, and Brian Earl is fouled with three seconds remaining. He makes both, but Princeton is down 24 at intermission, 33-9.
Princeton returned from Iowa to crush Bucknell 68-27 in its home opener. That win led into a tough holiday stretch that began in Alabama and ended in Hawaii, a six-game run that would feature two games against teams from the ACC and Conference USA and one game against teams from the Big East and Big 12. All six teams would go on to the postseason, including four who would go to the NCAA tournament. Only one of those games would be home, only two would be in the Eastern time zone.
The Tigers started out with a big road win at Alabama-Birmingham, as Brian Earl scored 18 points on 6 of 9 shooting and freshman Chris Krug added 10 points and eight rebounds.
Princeton then suffered back-to-back losses, falling to Maryland and Rutgers by a total of 35 points. It was hardly a tremendous send-off to the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii, where Princeton headed with a 5-4 record the day before Christmas.
Things aren't exactly getting better for Princeton. The Tigers have scored just four points in the first five minutes of the second half, and if possible, they trail by even more than they did at halftime. Michael Jordan hits a three-pointer, and now with 15:11 to play, Princeton is down by 27 at 40-13.
To win the tournament in Hawaii, Princeton had to beat three big-time teams in three days. Step one was a 50-46 win over Florida State, keyed by a 13-point, 10-rebound effort by freshman center Chris Young. The Tigers followed that the next day with a 56-46 win over Texas as Gabe Lewullis scored 19, including the 1,000th of his career, while Earl had 13 and Young added six points, four rebounds and seven assists.
That left just one hurdle to clear, the explosive 49ers of UNC Charlotte, who would go on to win the Conference USA title. Princeton led by three at the half but fell behind 35-29 midway through the second half. It was still a four-point deficit with five minutes to go, but a 16-footer by Young and a long three-pointer by C.J. Chapman put Princeton on top 42-41. Charlotte would tie it at 43-43 before Young hit two foul shots with 24 seconds to play and Chapman sealed it with a pair of free throws with one second remaining. Lewullis and Earl would play all 120 minutes in three nights and take the big trophies (Lewullis MVP, Earl all-tournament), but Chapman led the way with 17 while Young finished his coming-out party tournament with 16 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Princeton returned home from the long trip at 8-4 heading into the new year and the Ivy League schedule.
When did this run start? It was Rocca's three, right? Yeah. Then Earl hit one, and Rocca added a layup and foul shot. Lewullis scored, the layup and the jumper from the foul line. Then it all started to blur together. Rocca had that great offensive rebound and layup. Earl got hot. And what's the run now? Wait. Another three from Earl. It's a 23-2 run. And now it's 42-36. Twenty-seven points, down to six. And there's still seven minutes left. This is unbelievable.
Princeton opened its Ivy League season with a 22-point win at home over a Brown team thas has never won at Jadwin, and it followed that with a 66-33 romp over Yale. After exam break and the annual Division III game, Princeton then swept at Columbia and Cornell and at home against Harvard and Dartmouth to move to 6-0 in the league.
Next up was Penn at Penn, the highlight of any Princeton season. The Quakers this time were also undefeated at 6-0. Princeton had won 11 straight, Penn had won 12 straight.
What followed was probably the greatest game in Ivy League basketball history. Penn went on a 29-0 run in the first half and led 40-13 with 15 minutes remaining. Princeton then staged the fourth-biggest comeback in Division I basketball history to rally for the 50-49 win.
At what price, though? The Tigers came crashing to Earth in the next game, losing a 60-58 double overtime thriller three days later against the same Yale team that it had beaten by 33 earlier.
Suddenly finding itself tied with Penn, Princeton rebounded to beat Brown, curiously by the exact same 67-45 count that it had at Jadwin earlier. With the Penn rematch looming at Jadwin for the final game of the regular season, Princeton knocked off Dartmouth at Dartmouth before losing again in overtime, this time at Harvard.
Penn did not slip up, so the teams met March 2 at Jadwin as Princeton hoped to win and force a playoff game.
Instead, the night belonged to the Quakers. Penn broke open a tight game at halftime to romp in the second half, taking the game and the Ivy title 73-48. For Princeton, there would be a consolation prize, however, and the Tigers would make the most of it.
Young hits the three to make it 49-46, and Earl fakes Owens big-time on the baseline layup to cut it to one with three minutes later. Now Young has the ball, and he's going right after Owens again. This is the same guy who missed his first 10 shots? He drops in the hook this time, and now, shockingly, amazingly, Princeton leads 50-49. 2:14 to play.
Princeton accepted its third NIT bid and a first-round home game against Georgetown. The Tigers started Young, Earl, Lewullis, Ahmed El-Nokali and Mason Rocca. They also finished with them. And kept them in the middle. Those five played all 40 minutes each, and the formula worked. Princeton was outsubbed 54-0, but the Tigers won 54-47.
Next up was North Carolina State at Reynolds Coliseum, which would close after the season. Playing in front of a packed, juiced-up crowd that didn't want to see the last game in the building be that night, Princeton rode Young's 24 points and six rebounds and Earl's dazzling, game-clinching layup for a 61-58 lead and a berth in the quarterfinals.
That meant a game at Xavier in Cincinnati two days later, with a trip to New York for the Final Four in the balance. Princeton played a great first half and built a 16-point lead, but Xavier was too much in the second half. Despite a 21-point night from Young, Princeton fell 65-58.
The season ended at 22-8, not bad for something of a rebuilding year. Princeton said goodbye to Earl (Ivy Player of the Year) and Lewullis (first-team All-Ivy), but returns Ivy Rookie of the Year Young.
Penn, now down, misses three big foul shots. Princeton misses out on its chances to open a bigger lead, and then Rocca misses his one-and-one. So we're left with this: Penn ball, time running out. No time out. Jordan brings it across, El-Nokali on him. Jordan makes his move, but the freshman doesn't give. Jordan is forced to give it to Langel. He makes his move on Earl. Lets it go from about 12 feet in the corner. Two seconds left. No good. Lewullis tips it. Earl gets the rebound. And that's it. It's over. Princeton has won, 50-49. Down 27, and Princeton wins. Unbelievable.
Believe it.