Princeton University Athletics
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Lehigh
Men's Basketball Team to Host Lehigh Wednesday in Military Appreciation Doubleheader
November 27, 2017 | Men's Basketball
Patriot League foe Lehigh will make its first visit to Jadwin Gym since 2009 as the Tigers aim to run their winning streak to three games Wednesday night in the second half of a doubleheader with the women's team. The men's game will begin at approximately 8 p.m. after the women's game against Villanova at 5:30.
The Ivy League Network will have the game on video, NBC Sports Philadelphia + (formerly The Comcast Network) will have it on TV in the Philadelphia area, and fans can listen live on the Princeton IMG Sports Network (103.3 FM WPRB in Princeton) or through the TuneIn app (search "Princeton"). The RWJ Barnabas Health pregame show begins 20 minutes prior to tip-off.
It's also Military Appreciation Night in Jadwin with free tickets to all military and service members with ID and a free camo wristband to the first 500 fans.
Princeton (2-3) vs. Lehigh (3-3), Wednesday, Nov. 29, 8 p.m., Jadwin Gym, Princeton, N.J.
• Watch: Ivy League Network & NBC Sports Philadelphia + (formerly The Comcast Network)
• Listen on WPRB 103.3 in Princeton and TuneIn online
• Live Stats
• Tickets
• Follow @Princeton_Hoops for in-game updates
• Princeton Game Notes
• Up next: Princeton will begin a challenging and busy December against Miami in the HoopHall Miami Invitational at AmericanAirlines Arena, the home of the MIami Heat. The 8 p.m. game will be televised on ESPNU and will be the second half of a doubleheader with Kansas-Syracuse at 5:30 p.m.on ESPN.
• Princeton leads Lehigh 31-4 in the all-time series, but the Mountain Hawks have won two of the last three. Princeton is 24-2 all-time against Lehigh in Princeton, with the Tigers enjoying a 17-game winning streak against Lehigh at home. The Mountain Hawks, then the Engineers, last beat Princeton at home in 1930 in University Gym. Lehigh's only other win at Princeton was in 1925, Lehigh didn't play at Princeton between games in 1951 and 1984.Lehigh's teams became the Mountain Hawks in 1995.
• Lehigh was Pete Carril's first collegiate head coaching job. Carril coached at Lehigh in 1966-67, going 11-12, before coming to Princeton for 29 seasons, 514 wins, 13 Ivy League titles and 11 NCAA Tournaments.
• Last season's game against Lehigh was the first since January 2009. Lehigh returns just 31 of its 76 points from that 76-67, Nov. 20, 2016 win at Stabler Arena, led by 20 from Jordan Cohen. Tim Kempton, who grabbed a game-high 24 points and 11 boards, won the Patriot League Player of the Year award in 2015 and 2016, and Princeton's Spencer Weisz '17, the reigning Ivy Player of the Year, both play in Israel, Kempton for Bnei Hertzeliya and Weisz for Galil Gilboa. Their teams will meet Sunday for the first time this season at Hertzeliya.
• Princeton returns 16 of its 67 points from the Lehigh game last year, with Henry Caruso '17 and Steven Cook '17 both having moved on. Amir Bell and Devin Cannady had five apiece and Myles Stephens had six. Lehigh outrebounded the Tigers 32-27, and the Tigers couldn't take advantage of 19 turnovers as Lehigh won the points-off-turnover stat 13-12. The Mountain Hawks outshot Princeton 56.5 percent to 41 percent, including making 10 of 16 from deep to 6 of 18 for Princeton. Kahron Ross, Lehigh's second-leading scorer this year, missed the game due to injury, and Lance Tejada, the leading scorer, sat out the season after transferring from East Carolina.
• The box scores from the two halves in Sunday's game at FDU tell different stories, with the Tigers riding 64.3 percent shooting overall and 7 of 10 from 3 along with 11 forced turnovers, just five of their own and FDU shooting 36.4 percent to a 22-point halftime lead. After the break, Princeton shot even better from the field, 68.4 percent, but allowed 58.8 percent shooting, committed 12 second-half turnovers to five for FDU, and was outrebounded 13-8 after being even on the boards 12-12. The Knights outscored Princeton 49-34 in the second half and trimmed the deficit to as low as four after being down 27 late in the first half.
• 3-pointers have fared big in all of Lehigh's games this year. Both Lehigh and its opponent have attempted no fewer than 22 3s in all six of Lehigh's games this season. Princeton, which averaged 26.3 3s tried a game last year, has put up 20 or more only twice in its five games, and Princeton's opponents, which averaged 19.6 tries a game last year, have put up at least 20 in each of the last three games. Lehigh foes have made no fewer than eight 3s in every game this season, while the Mountain Hawks have made no fewer than seven every time out. Lehigh has also been outrebounded by all five of its Division I opponents this season while Princeton has won the battle of the boards two of five times.
• Princeton used its third starting lineup of the season Sunday, with sophomore Richmond Aririguzoh making his first career start alongside seniors Mike LeBlanc and Amir Bell and juniors Devin Cannady and Myles Stephens. Cannady, Stephens and Bell have started all five games, doing so alongside rookies Jerome Desrosiers and Sebastian Much before LeBlanc and Alec Brennan each started the next three games.
• Just two-plus seasons into his Tiger career, Devin Cannady stands eighth on Princeton's career 3-point list with 159. He needs just eight more 3s to vault to solo sixth place. He needs three more 3s to tie Sydney Johnson '97 for seventh place and seven 3s to tie Dan Mavraides '11 for sixth. He'll be in sixth for a while as there's a 43-bucket gap between Mavraides and former teammate Spencer Weisz '17 in fifth (209).
• Devin Cannady, Myles Stephens and Amir Bell have combined for 53.2 percent of the minutes through four games, down slightly from 53.3 percent through four games and 55.2 percent through three. All three average at least 33.8 minutes per game, though senior Mike LeBlanc is closing the gap on them, playing a career-high 33 minutes last time out at FDU to stand at 23.6 mpg this season. He hadn't played 20 minutes in a game in his career prior to the Nov. 15 game vs. BYU, but has done so in every game since.
• Three of the five Tiger rookies have logged double-figure minutes in at least one game this season, with Sebastian Much doing so in four of the five and Ryan Schwieger doing so in all five. Much was strong last week, playing 33 of his 58 minutes on the season between the Lafayette and FDU games, going 8 of 11 from the field, 3 of 6 from 3, and scoring 19 of his 25 points. Schwieger upped his Tiger scoring best from five against BYU to seven against FDU.
• Lehigh was picked fourth in the Patriot League behind Bucknell, Boston University and Navy. Kahron Ross was named to the preseason All-Patriot League team. The Mountain Hawks are coming off back-to-back games against major-conference foes, at No. 10 USC (L, 88-63) and Pitt (L, 80-68). The Tigers and Mountain Hawks have four common opponents in Monmouth, USC, Lafayette and Yale, but none of those teams has faced both Lehigh and Princeton yet.
• The trio of Myles Stephens, Devin Cannady and Amir Bell, a group that accounts for 2,212 of the 2,813 points on the roster, or 78.6 percent. The three had been the only players to put up double-figure points this season until freshman Sebastian Much scored 10 against Lafayette last week, and the 46.7 percent share of the points the three had against the Leopards was the lowest share in any game this season. The previous low for the trio's share was 55.6 percent against BYU. The share went back up to 56.6 percent for the FDU game with Cannady netting 22 and Stephens 21.
• Princeton has 32 members of the program's 1,000-point club, with Spencer Weisz '17 and Steven Cook '17 joining last season. There are a few candidates to join this season, with Amir Bell at 774 points, Devin Cannady at 832 and Myles Stephens at 606.
• Entering Monday's games, Princeton stood at 119 in the KenPom rankings, just two spots behind Yale for tops in the Ivy. Princeton has, will have or could have (depending on the Hawaii tournament) as many as eight games from Monday's KenPom top 100 on the schedule, including USC (19), Miami (20), Butler (57), Davidson (85), BYU (87), Saint Joseph's (88), Middle Tennessee (89). Princeton could face as many as two of USC, Miami and Davidson in Hawaii.
• The Tigers have overcome up-and-down starts to have successful seasons in recent years. Under Mitch Henderson, the Tigers now have a 43-38 (.531) record in the pre-New Year portion of the schedule and a 78-25 (.757) record from Jan. 1 forward.
• Henderson is on track to coach his 200th game at Princeton on Feb. 6 vs. Penn. The only other Tiger mentors to coach 200 games are Albert Wittmer (1923-1932, 115-86), Franklin "Cappy" Cappon (1938-43 & 1946-61, 250-181) and Pete Carril (1967-96, 514-261). Henderson, at 121 wins, is third behind Cappon (250) and Carril (514, 1967-96), for whom Henderson played his first two seasons at Princeton.
• Princeton is coming off a 14-0 Ivy League season, the sixth in program history and first since 1998, and the 14th in Ivy League history and first since 2008 (Cornell). That earned the Tigers their 27th Ivy League championship and the top seed in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament, which Princeton won to advance to its 25th NCAA Tournament.
• The Tigers graduated three starters in Ivy League Player of the Year Spencer Weisz, first-team All-Ivy Leaguer Steven Cook, and center Pete Miller. Despite that, Princeton returns two starters in junior Devin Cannady, an honorable-mention All-Ivy Leaguer, and classmate Myles Stephens, the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, a first-team All-Ivy Leaguer, and the Ivy League Tournament MVP. Princeton also returns senior Amir Bell, who has started 64 games in his career, including five games last year.
• Last season, Mitch Henderson notched his fourth 20-win season as Princeton's coach, the second-most in program history behind Pete Carril's 10.
• Princeton's 19-game winning streak that included the final 17 games of the regular season and the Ivy League Tournament was the second-longest in program history behind the 20 straight that the 1997-98 team won with Mitch Henderson as a senior.
• Junior Amir Bell enjoyed quite a bounce-back in the Ivy League season last year. In non-conference play, he averaged 3.8 ppg while shooting .268 from the field and .120 from 3. In Ivy play, he averaged 8.7 ppg, shooting .581 from the field and .559 from 3. Bell had Princeton's highest shooting percentages overall (among players with >3 FGA) and from 3 in Ivy League play.
• Princeton ended last season tops in the nation in fewest turnovers at 298, fourth in fewest fouls at 482, fifth in turnovers per game at 9.9, ninth in scoring defense at 61.4 ppg allowed, 12th in 3s per game at 9.9, 15th in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.44, and 17th in turnover margin at +3.2/game.
• Princeton ended 49th in last season's final RPI after ending the season ranked 47th in 2016.
• Princeton was voted a close third in the Ivy League's official preseason media poll. Princeton received three of the 17 first-place votes with Harvard getting six first-place votes and Yale eight. Harvard had 121 poll points to 118 for Yale and 114 for Princeton.
• The Pete Carril coaching tree is going strong in the 2017-18 season. Six current Division I head coaches played for and/or coached under Carril, including Mitch Henderson '98, Mike Brennan '94 (American), Chris Mooney '94 (Richmond), Sydney Johnson '97 (Fairfield), Brian Earl '99 (Cornell) and Bill Carmody (Holy Cross).
