Cannady Scores Season-High 28 Points as Tigers End Trip With 77-63 Win at Hawai'i

Monday, December 25

Honolulu, Hawaii

2:30 PM ET

Princeton University

7-7

Hawai’i

8-4

Princeton

Hawai'i

Devin Cannady had his sixth 20-point game of the season Monday against Hawai'i.

Photo by: Courtney Metzger

Cannady Scores Season-High 28 Points as Tigers End Trip With 77-63 Win at Hawai'i

December 25, 2017 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Winners of four of five on the long California-Hawaii trip, the Princeton men's basketball team closed the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Monday with a 77-63 win over host Hawai'i to stand at .500 for the first time since tipping off in the season opener at Butler back on Nov. 12.

The trip, which culminated in the program's first-ever Christmas Day game, allowed Princeton to emerge from a 2-6 start to the season with a 7-7 overall record with Ivy League play set to begin once the calendar flips to 2018. Devin Cannady had 26 of his season-high 28 points after the break to lead the Tigers on the day and pick up his sixth 20-point game of the season. Hawai'i's Mike Thomas, who had 19 in the first half while none of his teammates had more than six before the break, was limited to three after halftime.

"We went into halftime tied and I don't think we played the best that we could have defensively," Cannady said. "We let them score a lot in the paint, get to the free-throw line, which is what they do really well. In the second half, we came out more aggressive."

Hawai'i led 11-7 just more than six minutes in before Princeton went on a 9-2 run to take a three-point lead just past the midway mark of the opening half. From there, the spread was never larger than four points until an 8-0 Tiger run put Princeton up 10 at 43-33 with 14-plus minutes to go in the game.

"This whole trip has been rough shooting-wise for me, but my teammates, my coaches kept having the confidence in me to shoot, and so did I," Cannady said after rebounding from going 5 of 22 from the field over the first two games to shooting 7 of 13 against the Rainbow Warriors. "I kept shooting, and once the ball started going in, I got more and more confident."

Princeton shot 52.2 percent in the first half to outdo Hawai'i's 45.2 percent while adding five 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes, but nine turnovers helped the Rainbow Warriors get nine points off those giveaways while the Tigers got six in return in the opening half. Hawai'i was also able to make a 16-12 rebounding edge count with four offensive rebounds leading to a 4-0 edge in second-chance points before the break.

After going up 10 for the first time at that 14:36 mark of the second half, Princeton never let Hawai'i closer than eight while leading by as many as 16 points.

Princeton ended up outshooting Hawai'i 54.2 percent to 46.4 percent for the game and turning the ball over six times in the second half after the opening-half nine.

The Tigers will be away from competition until the Ivy League opener Jan. 5 at Penn, where Princeton will put its program-record eight-game winning streak against the Quakers on the line.

Postgame Notes

• Princeton now leads the all-time series with Hawai'i 2-0 with both meetings coming on O'ahu over the past two seasons.

• Rookie Ryan Schwieger made his first career start, making it the Tigers' sixth starting combination of the season as the North Carolinian started alongside classmate Sebastian Much, juniors Devin Cannady and Myles Stephens, and senior Amir Bell.

• Rookie Elijah Barnes made his career debut late in the game.

• Devin Cannady's 12 free throws were a career high, and while going 12 of 16 from the stripe Monday, it was the first time Cannady missed more than two free throws in a game in his career.

• Cannady's 28 points leave him just three from becoming the 33rd player in program history and the sixth to play for Mitch Henderson to score 1,000 career points.

• Jerome Desrosiers' 10 points were a career high, and his three assists matched a career high.

• Princeton's .542 shooting clip was its best since shooting a season-best .660 at FDU on Nov. 26.

• Princeton shot .489 from the field on the trip.

• Hawai'i's .182 3-point clip was a season low for a Princeton opponent. The Rainbow Warriors were also 9 of 20 (.450) from the free-throw line, a season low for a Princeton opponent and well below the team's average of .675

• Princeton won the rebounding battle in four of the five games on the trip after getting outrebounded in seven of the first nine games this season.

• Princeton didn't allow Hawai'i to improve on its .286 shooting from deep, holding the Rainbow Warriors to 2 of 11 (.182).