Men's Basketball Team to Face Hawai'i Monday as Diamond Head Classic Comes to a Close

It's the finale of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic for the Princeton men's basketball team when the Tigers take on host Hawai'i, looking to go 4-1 on the five-game, 12-day, 10,500-mile California-Hawaii trip before Ivy League play begins.

Princeton (6-7) at Hawai'i (8-3), Monday, Dec. 25, 9:30 a.m. HT/2:30 p.m. ET, Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
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• Princeton Game Notes

• Up next: Ivy League play will begin, but not after a bit of a break. Princeton will head to The Palestra Friday, Jan. 5 to take on Penn.

• It'll be the first Christmas Day game in Princeton men's basketball history when the Tigers and Rainbow Warriors meet for the second time in program history. Monday's game comes 383 days after Princeton beat Hawai'i 75-62 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam's Bloch Arena in the final game of the Pearl Harbor Invitational.

• Hawai'i was picked fifth in the Big West preseason media poll. It'll be the second time on the trip Princeton has faced a Big West team, as the Tigers beat Cal Poly 80-60 on Dec. 16.

• Princeton returns just 18 of the 75 points it scored in last year's game against Hawai'i, with Myles Stephens leading the returners with eight, Devin Cannady adding six and Amir Bell five. Hawai'i returns 36 of its 62, led by 19 from Gibson Johnson, who co-led the team with now-graduated Noah Allen. The Tigers found success by outrebounding the Rainbows 35-28 and going 10 of 24 from deep. Steven Cook '17 was a big part of that with 21 points, five 3-pointers and nine rebounds.

• Amir Bell and Alec Brennan have the chance to play in both a Thanksgiving and a Christmas game in their careers. They're the only two players on the roster who played in Princeton's 62-56 loss to UTEP on Nov. 27, 2014 to open the Wooden Legacy, another ESPN Events tournament, in Fullerton, Calif. Bell had 10 points in that game.

• 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. This year, the Tigers are starting to show it again, winning four of five after a 2-6 start.

• On the season, Princeton averages 25 3-point attempts per game. Three of 11 Hawai'i opponents (Davidson, Troy, Ark.-Pine Bluff) have tried at least that many this season and all made at least nine, though no team has made more than 10 3s against the Rainbow Warriors this season. Princeton has exceeded 10 3s six times in 13 games this season, including three in a row. Hawaii holds its opponents to an average of .332 from distance, and the Rainbow Warriors shoot just .286 from 3 themselves.

• Hawai'i's top national stat ranking entering Saturday's (12/23) games was 61st in fewest fouls (198). Jack Purchase was eighth in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (4:1). Princeton's top stat ranking was 28th with a .401 3FG percentage. The Tigers were also 31st in 3s per game at 10.1. Devin Cannady ranked 12th at 37 minutes per game, 22nd with 3.42 3s per game and 41 total 3s made, and 29th with a .905 FT percentage.

• Devin Cannady's streak of scoring in double figures to start the season came to an end Saturday with eight points against Akron. It was 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.

• Princeton is shooting .494 from the field and .423 from 3 in wins and .421 overall and .362 from 3 in losses. The difference is also true for Tiger opponents, with foes shooting .430 overall and .341 from 3 in wins and .478 overall and .391 from 3 in losses. The shooting stats stand out more than the difference in rebounding in wins (+1.1 rpg) and losses (-3.5 rpg) and turnovers in wins (+0.8) and losses (-2.0).

• The Tigers have gone back to their most-used starting lineup for the two HADHC games so far, with rookies Jerome Desrosiers and Sebastian Much joining the trio of senior Amir Bell and juniors Devin Cannady and Myles Stephens, who have started every game. That five has started six games with no other starting combo coming together more than three times.

• 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 180 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 Monday's game with 969 career points. Senior Amir Bell is at 863 and junior Myles Stephens is at 734.

• 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 42, is on pace for 94 3s this year. The Ivy League record held by Cornell alum Ryan Wittman is 109 in his senior year of 2009-10.

• Devin Cannady, Myles Stephens and Amir Bell have combined for 52.6 percent of the minutes through 13 games. All three average at least 34.6 minutes per game, and no other Tiger is closer than rookie Sebastian Much at 21.0 mpg.

• From among the Tiger freshman class, Sebastian Much, Jerome Desrosiers and Ryan Schwieger have seen the most time, with each playing between 12.7 (Desrosiers) and 21.0 (Much) minutes per game. Until Aaron Young scored 11 points at Cal Poly on Dec. 16, 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 six. The Bell-Cannady-Stephens trio accounts for 2,566 of the 3,386 points on the roster, or 75.8 percent.

• The KenPom top 100 through Saturday's (12/22) games included five regular-season foes on the schedule, including Miami (17), USC (38), Butler (44), BYU (60) and Middle Tennessee (66). The Tigers were the top-ranked Ivy team, standing at 129 and nine spots in front of Ivy leadoff opponent Penn.

• Under Mitch Henderson, the Tigers now have a 47-42 (.528) 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 125 wins, is third behind Cappon (250) and Carril (514, 1967-96), for whom Henderson played his first two seasons at Princeton.

• When Princeton begins the 2018 Ivy League season Jan. 5 at Penn, it'll be 672 days since the Tigers last lost an Ivy League game, at Harvard on March 4, 2016. Though the Tigers have won 16 Ivy games in a row (not counting the Ivy League Tournament), that's nowhere near the program's record Ivy winning streak. Mitch Henderson was a part of that one too, as the Tigers won 35 straight league games from 1997-99. The league record belongs to Penn, which won 48 in a row from 1992-96.

• 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.

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