Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
No. 25 Women's Basketball Set to Open Season Against American, Duquesne
November 11, 2015 | Women's Basketball
| Weekend Game Notes |
|
| Gametimes | Princeton vs. American l Friday, Nov. 13, 7 p.m. l Jadwin Gymnasium |
| Princeton vs. Duquesne l Sunday, Nov. 15, 2 p.m. l Jadwin Gymnasium | |
| Game Coverage | Live Stats l Webstream |
| All-Time Series |
Princeton is tied with American, 2-2 l Princeton is tied with Duquesne, 2-2 |
| Last Meeting | Nov. 23, 2014 - Princeton 63, American 56 (Box/Recap) |
| Nov. 16, 2014 - Princeton 79, Duquesne 62 (Box/Recap) | |
| Princeton | Roster l Schedule l Stats l @PrincetonWBB |
| American |
Roster l Schedule l Stats l @AU_WBasketball |
| Duquesne | Roster l Schedule l Stats |
| Related Links | 2015-16 Season Preview l Week 1 Game Notes (PDF) |
2015-16 SEASON PREVIEW
WEEK 1 GAME NOTES (PDF)
The Year That Was
• The Tigers closed out their 2014-15 campaign with a 31-1 overall record.
• Putting together a 30-0 regular season, Princeton captured its fifth Ivy title in six seasons (12th overall).
• The Tigers' 30-0 regular season record was the best in Ivy basketball history, surpassing the 1970-71 Penn men's team's mark of 28-0.
• The Orange and Black earned the best-ever national rankings for an Ivy team, climbing as high as No. 13 in the Associated Press Top-25 and USA Today Coaches Polls.
• Princeton's No. 8 NCAA Tournament seeding was the highest for an Ivy program.
• With an 80-70 victory over Green Bay, the Tigers became just the second Ivy team to advance to the NCAA second round, joining the 1998 Harvard squad that upset top-seeded Stanford.
• The first conference program to win the league's Player of the Week award in every week it was eligible, Princeton placed four on the All-Ivy teams, including three first team selections.
• Of the four times that an Ivy program has placed three members on the first team, three of them have been by the Tigers. Princeton also saw three players receive first team laurels in 2010-11 (Devona Allgood, Addie Micir, Lauren Edwards) and 1977-78 (C.B. Tomasiewicz, Margaret Meier, Jackie Jackson).
• The Tigers closed out the season ranked 15th in the final USA Today Coaches Poll and 10th in the NCAA RPI.
Behind the Numbers
• Princeton wrapped up its 2014-15 campaign with a +23.2 scoring margin.
• Of the Tigers' 31 wins, all but two came by double digits.
• Winning 16 of its games by at least 20 points, Princeton secured victories of at least 30 points, nine times.
• The Tigers' largest non-conference margin of victory was 71 points (vs. Portland State, Dec. 19).
• Their biggest Ivy win was a 50-point triumph over Harvard (96-46, Jan. 30).
• The Tigers trailed at the half just three times (at Pittsburgh on Nov. 14; vs. Green Bay on Mar. 21; at Maryland on Mar. 23).
• Princeton registered a lower field goal percentage than its opponent just once last season - in its NCAA second round loss to Maryland (46.0 vs. 53.4).
• Last year, Princeton finished second in the nation in three -point percentage (40.5), third in field goal percentage (49.1), 12th in assists (16.9), and 19th in scoring (75.8).
• The Tigers also sat second in the country in field goal percentage defense (34.2), sixth in rebounding margin (+11.2) and points allowed (52.6), and seventh in three-point defense (26.3).
• Tigers set new program benchmarks for points (2,424), scoring average (75.8), field goals made (921), field goal percentage (.491), rebounds (1,338), blocks (143), and assists (541).
In the Rankings
• Princeton becomes the first Ivy team to ever earn a preseason national ranking, checking in at No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
• The Tigers are also receiving votes in the Associated Press Top-25, clocking in at No. 26 overall with 58 points.
• Princeton opens the year ranked third in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25.
• With three first-place votes and 709 points, the Orange and Black trail Florida Gulf Coast and Chattanooga, who have 735 and 720 points, respectively.
Leading the Way
• Helping the Tigers to a fifth Ivy title and NCAA Tournament berth in six seasons, Courtney Banghart begins her ninth year on the Princeton sidelines.
• Banghart enters the 2015-16 season with a 169-67 (0.716) overall record and a 92-17 (0.844) Ivy mark.
• One of Fortune Magazine's 50 Greatest Leaders, Banghart was tabbed the Naismith National Coach of the Year.
• Winning the Ivy League's inaugural Coach of the Year award, Banghart was also tabbed the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) National Coach of the Year and ECAC Coach of the Year.
• Banghart has also been on nine of the last 17 teams to win the Ivy League championship, with two as a player at Dartmouth, two as an assistant coach for the Big Green, and five as the head coach at Princeton.
Oh Captain, My Captain
• Annie Tarakchian, Alex Wheatley, and Taylor Williams will serve as the Tigers' tri-captains this season.
• A first-team All-Ivy selection last year, Tarakchian posted a team-high 11 double-doubles and averaged 10.3 points and 9.3 rebounds.
• Shooting 48.3 percent from the field, Tarakchian knocked down 46.9 percent of her three-point attempts.
• Tarakchian closed out the year ranked first in the Ivy in three-point shooting, second in rebounding, and fourth in field-goal percentage.
• Wheatley also earned All-Ivy honors in 2014-15, averaging 10.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
• Scoring in double digits 15 times, Wheatley led the league with a career-high 56.2 shooting percentage.
• With 764 points and a 55.3 career shooting percentage, Wheatley is on pace to join the Tigers' 1,000-point club.
• Williams appeared in all 32 games for Princeton last season, making six starts.
• One of the league's leaders in blocks (30), Williams shot 53.8 percent from the field while averaging 5.0 points and nearly three rebounds.
Familiar Faces
• Princeton returns 11 players from last year's historic team, including four starters.
• The Tigers' return nearly 82 percent of last year's rebounds (1,102 of 1,338), 74 percent of their points (1,779 of 2,424), and 62 percent of their assists (333 of 541).
• Of the eight Princeton players that averaged at least 10 minutes last season, the six that are back in the fold combined to shoot 51.6 percent (617-1195) from the floor and 44.1 percent (120-272) from three-point range.
• One of the most prolific scorers in Princeton history, Michelle Miller enters the year with 916 career points and is on pace to become the 23rd member of the Tigers' 1,000-pt club.
• Averaging 11.6 points on 44.9 percent shooting last season, Miller hit 46.0 percent (58-126) of her three-pointers, finishing second in the Ivy League.
• Miller's career 41.6 three-point percentage currently ranks second on the program charts.
• Amanda Berntsen was one of just two Tigers to start all 32 games for Princeton last year, joining 2015 Ivy Player of the Year and HM All-America selection Blake Dietrick '15.
• Berntsen set career-highs in numerous statistical categories last season, averaging 6.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game while shooting an efficient 54.5 percent (78-143) from the floor.
• Playing all 32 games last year, Vanessa Smith averaged just over 18 minutes per contest.
• Hitting 57.3 percent (94-164) of her shot attempts, Smith averaged 7.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
• During the NCAA Tournament, Smith excelled, averaging 13.0 points and 4.0 boards while hitting 67 percent of her shot attempts (10-15).
Welcome to the Family
• Princeton welcomes six freshmen to the Tiger family this season: Caroline Davis, Qalea Ismail, Sydney Jordan, Jordan Muhammad, Claudia Reid, and Gabrielle Rush.
• A 1,000-point scorer at Caravel Academy, Davis was a two-time second-team All-State selection.
• Ismail holds Patterson Mill's all-time scoring record with 1,758 points and was a four-time first-team All-County pick and McDonald's All-America nominee.
• Also a McDonald's All-America nominee, Jordan was a two-time first-team All-District selection at Stonewall Jackson.
• A three-year captain at Adrey Kell, Muhammad is second all-time on the school's scoring list.
• Also a three-year captain, Reid owns the DeWitt High School assists record (403) and is second in steals (213).
• Rush was Hinsdale Central's all-time scoring leader with 2,322 career points.
Into the Spotlight
• The Tigers are scheduled to have three televised games.
• The Orange and Black's in-state showdown against Seton Hall on Nov. 19 will be aired on Fox Sports2.
• Princeton's match-up against Michigan on Dec. 6 will be carried on ESPN2.
• The Tigers' Feb. 7 game against Harvard will be broadcast on the American Sports Network.
• Over the course of 2015-16, Princeton will face 11 opponents that earned postseason berths (NCAA, WNIT) a year ago.
• Of the Tigers' non-conference foes, six finished the past season in the top 50 of the NCAA's final RPI rankings, with eight closing out the year in the top 100.
News and Notes
• Annie Tarakchian was invited to the USA Basketball Junior National Team Trials last May and won gold at the 2015 Pan Armenian Summer Games.
• A Princeton Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence award winner and third-team CoSIDA Academic All-America honoree last season, Michelle Miller is a finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.
• One of five just five Princeton juniors to be accepted into the University's Scholar's in the Nation's Service Initiative, Alex Wheatley spent the summer interning at the National Institute of Health in Washington, D.C.
• Sophomore Leslie Robinson is the daughter of Princeton alumnus Craig Robinson, who is one of only two men's players in program history to twice be named Ivy League Player of the Year. Her aunt Michelle Robinson (Michelle Obama) graduated from Princeton in 1985 and is currently the First Lady of the United States and the wife of President Barack Obama.
• Freshman Qalea Ismail is the daughter of Qadry Ismail, who played 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) along with her uncle Raghib, who played nine seasons.
• Jordan Muhammad's father, Muhsin, played 14 seasons in the NFL, for the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears.
Series History: American
• Princeton is 2-2 all-time against American in a series that dates back to the 1979-80 season.
• The Eagles took the inaugural meeting in 1979 by a score of 63-56.
• Upending the Tigers 59-44 during the 2008-09 campaign, American improved to 2-0 against Princeton.
• The Orange and Black picked up its first-ever win over the Eagles in 2009-10 with a 77-45 triumph at Jadwin Gymnasium.
• The Tigers took last year's match-up in Washington, D.C. by a score of 63-56.
Last Meeting: American
• Holding off a late American charge, Princeton took last season's match-up against the Eagles, 63-56.
• Annie Tarakchian posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Blake Dietrick had 19 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists on 7-of-12 shooting.
• Knocking down six of her 10 shot attempts, Michelle Miller chipped in with 15 points and four boards.
• Shooting 46.8 percent for the game and 56.3 percent from three-point range, the Tigers held American to 41.2 percent shooting, which included a 38.5 percent clip in the first half.
• Three Eagles finished in double figures led by Jen Dumiak, who had 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting.
• Arron Zimmerman had 12 points, while Ari Booth netted 10.
Series History: Duquesne
• Princeton is 2-2 all-time against Duquesne. The Dukes won the inaugural meeting during the 1983-84 season, 70-65.
• The Tigers captured the 2006-07 meeting at Duquesne by a score of 62-59 with the Dukes prevailing the following season at Jadwin Gymnasium, 71-58.
• The Orange and Black won last year's showdown in Pittsburgh, 79-62.
Last Meeting: Duquesne
• Michelle Miller led the way in last year's 79-62 win over Duquesne, pouring in 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting.
• Amanda Berntsen hit seven of her 10 shot attempts to finish with 14 points and six assists, while Alex Wheatley had 12 points and eight rebounds.
• Shooting a blistering 57.7 (15-26) in the first half, Princeton finished 31-of-63 (49.2 percent) from the floor.
• Holding the Dukes to 39.3 percent (22-56) shooting with a 4-for-18 (22.2 percent) showing from long distance, Princeton finished with a 41-35 rebounding edge.