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Princeton University Athletics
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Men's Hoops: Five Takeaways from the Yale-Brown Weekend
February 21, 2016 | Men's Basketball
Princeton 75, Yale 63: Recap | Box Score | Highlights & Postgame
Princeton 77, Brown 66: Recap | Box Score | Highlights & Postgame
Princeton put itself in the thick of the Ivy League race by getting a needed win over Yale and holding serve by completing the weekend sweep with a win over Brown. Here are five takeaways from the weekend:
1. Still a long way to go: Of the last five Ivy League title races, four have been decided by one game or have ended in a tie, with a playoff necessary for the NCAA automatic bid. This looks like one of those years. Princeton, Yale and Columbia are a combined 21-0 against the other five teams in the league while Princeton and Yale are each 2-1 against the other. There are still two games left between the top trio, first when Columbia comes to Jadwin Gym Friday and then a week from Saturday when Yale goes to Columbia.
2. Devin Cannady: Freshman Devin Cannady continued his incredible Ivy campaign, not just by leading the team in scoring on the weekend at 15 points per game but by scoring in big spots. Six days after he scored the final eight points of regulation at Columbia to pull Princeton out of an eight-point hole, all in a span of 20 seconds, he sparked Princeton with back-to-back 3-pointers to get Princeton out of a six-point hole with less than five minutes to go in the first half, the first six points of an 18-2 half-closing run.
3. Defending the 3: Princeton held Yale and Brown to a combined 3 of 25 (.120) from beyond the arc. It's the first time all season Princeton held opponents below .200 from 3 in back-to-back games, but Princeton has been better at that stat in 2016 after a rougher December disallowing the triple. In the last 13 games, only twice has a Princeton opponent hit 40 percent or better from 3-point range in a game, with those games being the loss at Yale (11-19, .579) and against Harvard (7-11, .636). Opponents are hitting at a .327 clip from 3 against Princeton over the last 13 games after hitting at a .374 clip over the first 10 games.
4. Finding a balance: Princeton won the weekend without getting a big season-best number from any player. Two weekends ago against Harvard and Dartmouth, it was Steven Cook getting 21 and 27 points. Last weekend at Columbia, it was Pete Miller (20) and Devin Cannady (23) saving the day. This weekend, Cannady had 20 points against Yale and 10 against Brown, Spencer Weisz had 15 and 10 and Henry Caruso had 14 and 14. Those are Princeton's three high scorers on the season and they were the team's three high scorers on the weekend.
5. Home-court advantage: Princeton's shooting success continued in Jadwin this weekend, shooting .482 from the field and .432 from beyond the arc. On the season, Princeton is hitting at a .512 rate from the field and .409 from the arc at home (including the Dillon Gym game) and .423 from the field and .349 from distance away from campus. Accordingly, Princeton is 10-0 at home this year, its best start since going 12-0 in 2010-11, and has won 12 in a row at home dating back to last season. That's Princeton's longest streak since winning 16 in a row at home from March 5, 2010-Feb. 26, 2011.