Trip to Nation's Capital Ahead Wednesday for Men's Basketball Team at George Washington

Princeton's second Atlantic 10 opponent of the season will host the Tigers Wednesday when Princeton travels to George Washington for a 7 p.m. tip in the nation's capital. Each team played in an NBA arena over the weekend, the Tigers in a loss to No. 10/13 Miami in the HoopHall Miami Invitational at AmericanAirlines Arena, home of the Miami Heat, and George Washington in a win over Temple in the BB&T Classic at Capital One Arena, home of the Washington Wizards.

Princeton (2-5) at George Washington (4-4), Wednesday, Dec. 6, 7 p.m., Smith Center, Washington, D.C.
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• Up next: Princeton will host Monmouth for the first time since 2009 next Tuesday in Jadwin. Monmouth won a shootout last year in West Long Branch, 96-90, in what was the teams' first meeting anywhere since Princeton's last visit to the Hawks' nest in 2010. The five days away from competition will be Princeton's longest stretch without a game since the season began, as Princeton has had no longer than three days without a game since tipping off at Butler on Nov. 12.

• The all-time series with George Washington is tied 2-2, but none of those four games featured any of the current players. The Colonials have won the last two, most recently a 65-50 win on Nov. 24, 2009 at the Smith Center.

• George Washington was picked 11th in the 14-team Atlantic 10's coaches and media preseason poll with Yuta Watanabe picked preseason second team all-conference.

• Though Princeton and George Washington haven't met in eight years, there will be one Colonial very familiar with the Tigers. Patrick Steeves was on the Harvard roster for four seasons but only played one, in 2015-16. That season saw the Quebecker put in four points off the bench in an 83-62 Tiger romp in Jadwin, but Steeves was huge in the rematch, pouring in a career-high 25 points off the bench on 9-of-13 shooting overall and 3 of 6 from 3. Five current Tigers played in that 73-71 Harvard win at Lavietes, led by 14 points from Amir Bell and 10 from Devin Cannady.

• Steeves isn't alone in the Ivy-to-GW path for graduate-school hoops. Current Colonial Adam Mitola's brother Alex played at Dartmouth before suiting up for GW as a grad student in 2015-16. It'll be the second straight pre-conference slate in which the Tigers have run into a familiar Ivy face in a new uniform, as Columbia alum Grant Mullins chipped in 11 points to help Cal to a 62-51 victory over Princeton in last year's Pearl Harbor Invitational.

• GW will be another defensive challenge for the Tigers as the Colonials have shot better than 40 percent from the field in six straight games and are coming off a win over Temple in which they shot 60 percent. Over the season, GW hasn't been as strong from 3, breaking 30 percent only three times in eight games. However, all three of those times have come in the last four games, including a 9-for-16, .563 clip last time out against Temple.

• Princeton is looking to break a four-game skid against Atlantic 10 teams. The Tigers last win against an A-10 opponent came on Nov. 26, 2013 against George Mason in Jadwin Gym. The Tigers fell to an A-10 foe earlier this season at Saint Joseph's. The Tigers don't have any more A-10 opponents scheduled, but Princeton could face Davidson if the Hawaii tournament breaks that way.

• Opponents have shot better recently against GW, with the Colonials allowing 40+ percent shooting only once over the first four games but every time in each of the last four games. That hasn't extended to 3-point range, however, with Morgan State's 40 percent (4-10) as the 3FG percentage high for a Colonials opponent this season. Howard made 10 3s, a season-high for a GW opponent, in the opener, but it took the Bison 26 shots to do it.

• The Tigers haven't been hot from 3 over the last two games, combining for 15 of 56 (.268) against Lehigh and Miami and hitting 30 percent neither time. History suggests the Tigers will break out of it, as it's been five years since Princeton shot below 30 percent in three consecutive games, last doing it against Drexel, Fordham and Rider in Dec. 2012.

• The Tigers have overcome defensive struggles in recent history, with the current stretch being the first time in two years that three consecutive opponents have shot .500 or better from the field. The last time it happened was Dec. 2015, when four straight - winding up with Miami, coincidentally - shot 50 percent or better from the field, and the Tigers got it together to finish 12-2 in the Ivy - a record that would have been good enough to win in many seasons - and net their first NIT bid since 2002.

• Devin Cannady is the lone Tiger to score in double figures in all seven 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.

• Nine Tigers in four combinations have started a game this season, with the most recent new combo coming together for the Miami game. While senior Amir Bell and juniors Devin Cannady and Myles Stephens have started all seven, rookie Sebastian Much, who started the opener, returned to the starting lineup, joining sophomore Will Gladson, who had missed the first five games due to a knee injury and came off the bench against Lehigh before getting his first career start against the Hurricanes.

• Devin Cannady didn't make a 3-pointer in a game for just the seventh time in his Tiger career last time out against Miami. It was the first time all season he hadn't done so and the first time since the win over Penn in the Ivy semifinal last season. The cold shooting night kept Cannady in seventh place on Princeton's career 3s list at 164, just two behind Dan Mavraides '11 in sixth. It'll be a little while before Cannady moves up another spot once he passes Mavraides as former teammate Spencer Weisz' 17 is fifth at 209.

• Cannady is also closing in on 1,000 career points, which would make him the 33rd Tiger to do so and the sixth to play for Mitch Henderson. Cannady has 870 points, most among current Tigers. Senior Amir Bell is at 799 and junior Myles Stephens is at 632, among those on track to hit 1K by the time their Princeton career is complete.

• 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 is on pace for 108 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 Monday's games, Devin Cannady ranked 14th nationally in 3s per game (3.71), 22nd in 3FG percentage (.520), 28th in minutes per game (36:25), and 30th in 3s made (26).

• Devin Cannady, Myles Stephens and Amir Bell have combined for 52.2 percent of the minutes through seven games. All three average at least 32.9 minutes per game, and no other Tiger is closer than senior Mike LeBlanc at 21.3 mpg.

• Three of the five Tiger rookies have logged double-figure minutes in at least one game this season, with Sebastian Much doing so in six of the seven and Ryan Schwieger doing so in all seven. Schwieger has scored 13 of his season's 20 points over the last three games and Much has reached double figures in two of the last four games and nine points in another.

• The trio of Myles Stephens, Devin Cannady and Amir Bell, a group that accounts for 2,301 of the 2,941 points on the roster, or 78.2 percent. Sebastian Much is the only other player with a double-figure scoring game this season, hitting 10 against Lafayette and Lehigh.

• The KenPom top 100 entering Monday's games included at least five and as many as six potential regular-season foes on the schedule, including Miami (15), USC (27), Butler (55), BYU (70), Davidson (76) and Middle Tennessee (81). 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 43-40 (.518) 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.

• 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.

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