Visit to USC Ahead Tuesday for Men's Hoops Team

Tuesday, December 19

Los Angeles, Calif.

11:00 PM ET/8:00 PM PT

Princeton University

USC

Southern California native Sebastian Much and the Tigers will play Tuesday night at USC.

Photo by: Owen Main

December 18, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Princeton's first trip to the Galen Center in Los Angeles and the second of two games in California on the Tigers' five-game, 12-day trip to California and Hawaii is up Tuesday night when Princeton heads to USC for an 11 p.m. ET start.

Princeton (4-6) at USC (6-3), Tuesday, Dec. 19, 8 p.m. PT/11 p.m. ET, Galen Center, Los Angeles, Calif.
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• Princeton Game Notes

• Up next: The Tigers will head to Hawaii for the second straight year and the fifth time in program history for the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. Princeton will open with Middle Tennessee Friday at 5:30 p.m. ET with a possible rematch with USC Saturday, or Akron if the teams have different results in the opener. All teams will have a third game Monday.

• The Tigers and Trojans played once, an 18-point USC win in 1972 in, of all places, The Palestra in Philadelphia, where the Tigers play Penn annually and where the four-team Ivy League Tournament will be in March.

• USC was picked second in the Pac-12 preseason media poll, getting the one first-place vote of the 23 that favorite Arizona did not.

• The Tigers have overcome tough starts to have a strong Ivy League season before under Mitch Henderson. In Henderson's first season of 2011-12, Princeton started 1-5 before finishing 10-4 in the league, a record that's now one likely in contention for an Ivy League Tournament bid. In 2012-13, Princeton started 3-6 before going 10-4 in the league. In 2014-15, Princeton started 3-8 before going 9-5 in the league. Last season, Princeton started 4-6 before going 14-0 in the Ivy.

• USC is on a four-game streak of shooting at least 40 percent from the field and is coming off a season-best 56.7 percent clip Sunday against UCSB. The Trojans have only shot below 40 percent from the field once this season, in a loss to Texas A&M on Nov. 26, and the Tigers have held their opponent below 40 only twice, in wins over Lafayette and Monmouth.

• Princeton has gone to the 3-pointer 20-plus times in each of the last two games and six of the last eight, shooting anywhere from 25 to 67 percent in those games. The last three USC opponents have all tried at least 29 3s, making anywhere from 28 to 48 percent of them. USC has won two of the three, losing only when Oklahoma hit 15 of 31 from deep.

• Heading into Sunday's game, USC ranked eighth in the nation in fewest turnovers and 12th in blocked shot. Princeton's first three wins came against teams that turned the ball over at least 12 times, but the Tigers beat Cal Poly despite just nine Mustang giveaways. USC is 2-3 when turning the ball over 12 times and has lost its last three such games, while Princeton has turned an opponent over 12 times in five of its 10 games, going 3-2. The Trojans are coming off a season-low two blocks against UCSB but average 5.8 blocks per game, and Princeton has had at least five shots blocked three times this season, never more than six.

• Princeton will have two Southern California Tigers at Tuesday's game in rookie Sebastian Much of Laguna Niguel and sophomore Vittorio Reynoso-Avila of La Mirada.

• If Princeton beats USC, Mitch Henderson will have been a part of the last two Tiger wins over Pac-10/12 opponents. The last one was, of course, a memorable one, as Princeton defeated UCLA 43-41 in the first round of the 1996 NCAA Tournament. The Pac-10/12 has taken the last seven against Princeton, with Cal accounting for five of those, Stanford one and Arizona State one.

• Devin Cannady is the lone Tiger to score in double figures in all 10 games this season. It's the longest Tiger double-figure scoring streak to start a season since Ian Hummer '13 hit 10+ in each of the first 19 games of the 2011-12 season.

• The connection is no surprise, but when the Tigers have won, strong shooting and defending have been major factors. In wins, Princeton is shooting an even 50 percent and allowing 42.2, leading to 73 points for and 60 against, and in losses, the stats are about flipped, with Princeton shooting 41.8 percent in losses to 49.1 percent for opponents, leading to 62.8 points for and 76.2 points against. That extends to 3-point shooting as well, with the Tigers shooting .471 from deep in wins to .362 in losses and allowing .301 in wins and .398 in losses. The difference there stands out more than the rebounding difference (+0.3 rpg in wins, -5.1 rpg in losses) and turnover difference (+1.25 in wins, -1.8 in losses).

• The Tigers have used four starting combos this season, and if Jerome Desrosiers and Sebastian Much join Devin Cannady, Myles Stephens and Amir Bell in Tuesday's lineup, it'll mark the first time the same five have started in as many as four consecutive games.

• Devin Cannady's climb up Princeton's 3-pointer list will remain in sixth place for a while as he closes the gap between his 173 career 3s and the 209 that former teammate Spencer Weisz '17 posted. He's also closing in on becoming Princeton's 33rd 1,000-point scorer and the sixth to play for Mitch Henderson, entering Tuesday's game with 924 career points. Senior Amir Bell is at 818 and junior Myles Stephens is at 680.

• More records: Princeton's single-season 3-pointer mark belongs to Sean Jackson '92, who drilled 95 in 1990-91. Counting only the regular season, Cannady, now with 35, is on pace for 102 3s this year, a number that would put him in the neighborhood of the Ivy League record set by Cornell alum Ryan Wittman at 109 in his senior year of 2009-10.

• Entering Sunday's (12/17) games, Devin Cannady ranked 14th nationally in 3FG percentage (.507), 15th in FT percentage (.926), and 20th in 3s per game (3.5). The Tigers' top team ranking was 28th in 3FG percentage (.408), and for USC, Jordan McLaughlin had the top individual rankings, checking in 14th at (then) 6.8 assists per game and 26th with a (then) 3.18 assist-to-turnover ratio.

• Devin Cannady, Myles Stephens and Amir Bell have combined for 51.5 percent of the minutes through 10 games, a share that decreased from 52.7 percent with the Tigers getting the comfortable win at Cal Poly Saturday. All three average at least 33.3 minutes per game, and no other Tiger is closer than rookie Sebastian Much at 18.1 mpg.

• From among the Tiger freshman class, Sebastian Much, Jerome Desrosiers and Ryan Schwieger have seen the most time, with each playing between 12.8 (Desrosiers) and 18.1 (Much) minutes per game. Until Aaron Young scored 11 points at Cal Poly, Much was the only Tiger outside of Devin Cannady, Amir Bell and Myles Stephens to have a double-figure scoring game this season, now with three. The Bell-Cannady-Stephens trio accounts for 2,422 of the 3,150 points on the roster, or 76.9 percent.

• The KenPom top 100 entering Monday's (12/18) games included at least five regular-season foes on the schedule, including Miami (14), USC (32), Butler (53), BYU (66), Middle Tennessee (68), Davidson (80) and New Mexico State (93). Princeton could face as many as two of USC, Miami, Davidson and New Mexico State in Hawaii after also facing USC and Miami in scheduled games.

• Under Mitch Henderson, the Tigers now have a 45-41 (.523) 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.

• 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.

• 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.