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Princeton University Athletics
TCNJ Added as Men's Basketball's Division III Game
October 05, 2011 | Men's Basketball
While it won't be a post-finals break tune-up for Ivy League play this year, the traditional game against a Division II or III opponent will continue in 2012 for the Princeton men's basketball team.
The defending Ivy League champion Tigers will face The College of New Jersey on Jan. 8 at 2 p.m. in Jadwin Gym, filling a break before the opening of Ivy League play and final exams.
The TCNJ game will come after Princeton returns from a New Years trip to Tallahassee, Fla., for a pair of games against Florida State and Florida A&M and before the Tigers open Ivy play at Cornell and Columbia Jan. 13 and 14. Princeton will then settle in for the two-and-a-half week finals break before resuming league play at Penn on Monday, Jan. 30.
In previous years, the D-II/D-III game had come on the Sunday after final exams end, a period that closes on a Saturday. That Sunday is now the day before Princeton will travel to The Palestra.
TCNJ's inclusion on the schedule means that for the first time in the same season, Princeton will face both of Mercer County's other NCAA programs, along with Rider. Princeton will travel to Alumni Gym in Lawrenceville on Dec. 14 to resume a series last played in 2002.
It will be the third time TCNJ and Princeton have squared off. In 1998, Princeton defeated TCNJ 59-50 in a game that featured two Princeton starters who will be on the bench this time around in head coach Mitch Henderson '98 and assistant coach Brian Earl '99. TCNJ was also Princeton's opponent last year in a 73-40 Tiger victory.