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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Kentucky (Second Round)
Players Mentioned
Men's Basketball Puts Scare into Kentucky, Falls 59-57
March 17, 2011 | Men's Basketball
So while the win over UCLA in 1996 will remain alone as Princeton's most stunning NCAA Tournament victory, Thursday's 59-57 loss to fourth-seeded Kentucky will stand with others in which the Tigers gave the big names a run in the big dance.
Longtime Tiger fans know them well. A two-point loss to Villanova in 1991. A four-point defeat to Arkansas in 1990. And even though Princeton was no 16th seed this time as in the 50-49 loss to Georgetown in 1989, add that one to the list too.
While they're not as satisfying as wins, all of them, and this one as well, remind every team that Princeton can't be overlooked in the postseason.
"I wanted to demand from our players that we live up to that, and I think we did," Sydney Johnson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach in his fourth season. "I think we did that."
Princeton (25-7) led by as much as five in the second half against the Wildcats (26-8), threatening to move this one alongside the UCLA win in 1996 as perhaps the biggest stunner in Princeton's 24 NCAA appearances.
It had so many similarities, and even a nice round number for an anniversary, to that UCLA game 15 years ago, the last time the Tigers won their opening NCAA Tournament contest as the lower seed.
Once again, Princeton had the number 13 next to its name and was facing a nationally-known fourth-seed. Sydney Johnson, a captain on that 1996 team, is now on the sidelines as the head coach.
And once again, the Tigers had a stunner on their minds.
"We prepared this whole week to beat these guys," senior Kareem Maddox said. "Our team believed that we could do it."
Princeton trailed early, 7-0 against the Bruins and as much as 13-4 in this one. In neither game did the Tigers wilt.
"I knew we would settle in," Dan Mavraides said. "We always have this whole season. I'm not sure when it came, but once we got a couple easy layups and started running our offense and doing what we do, we calmed down and got back to our stuff."
Down by a point at the break, it was Princeton and not Kentucky that burst out of the gate to open the second half. The Tigers scored eight of the first 11 points out of the locker room and led by as much as five as late as 44-39 inside of the 12-minute mark.
But the Wildcats halted it there. An 8-0 run by Kentucky put it back in the lead by three at 47-44 with less than nine minutes left, and the Tigers were in pursuit mode.
Princeton's four leading scorers on the season were its four leading scorers in the game, with Mavraides' 14 points leading all four in double figures. Douglas Davis added 13, while Kareem Maddox had 12 and Ian Hummer 11.
Princeton had one more run in it, but Kentucky had the last full possession. Following a Maddox bucket with 1:35 to go and Hummer's rebound of a Brandon Knight miss, Mavraides' runner in the lane tied it at 57-57 with 38 seconds to go.
Kentucky whittled the clock, and Knight, the Wildcats' leading scorer on the season, dashed to the basket for the go-ahead layup with two seconds to go.
In a measure of just how much the Tigers stepped up to the challenge in this one, the game-winning basket was the only score that Knight, Kentucky's leading scorer on the season who averaged 17.5 points per game, had against Princeton.
"Brandon is a good player," Davis said. "But he's a player. In the last seconds you expect players to make plays."
Darius Miller led Kentucky with 17 points, ahead of Josh Harrellson's 15 points as part of a double-double with 10 boards. Terrence Jones added 10 points for the Wildcats.
Kentucky outshot Princeton 51.1% to 46.2%, but the Tigers owned a 28-26 advantage on the glass and took care of the ball, committing only six turnovers while forcing nine from Kentucky.
The Tigers' last gasp with 2.0 seconds to go was a situation reminiscent of just five days before, when Princeton was down by one against Harvard in the Ivy League playoff and had 2.8 seconds to find Davis for the game-winner.
This time, however, Princeton had to go the length of the floor on the inbounds pass, a distance that proved too great for a miracle.