.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Harvard
Players Mentioned
Tonight: Path to Ivy Perfection for Men's Hoops Team Continues vs. Harvard, Saturday vs. Dartmouth
February 28, 2017 | Men's Basketball
There's also the chance for the Tigers to extend their 15-game winning streak, the longest since the program-record 20-game winning streak during the 1997-98 season. Entering the week, it's the third-longest active streak in the nation, behind Vermont (18) and Monmouth (16).Â
Saturday, the program will recognize its six seniors before the game, and at halftime, the program will honor the 1966-67 team that was ranked as high as third in the nation and advanced to the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
At Friday's game, members of the Dillon League wearing their team jersey will gain free admission, and the first 500 fans, or while supplies last, will receive a free Princeton Basketball Make Shots t-shirt. There's also a halftime performance by the Red Panda Acrobat. Saturday, the first 500 fans, or while supplies last, will receive a free Princeton Basketball t-shirt, and a bounce house and a face painter will also be on hand.
All the links and info you'll need for this weekend's games are below.
Princeton vs. Harvard, Friday, Mar. 3, 5 p.m., Jadwin Gym
Princeton vs. Dartmouth, Saturday, Mar. 4, 6 p.m., Jadwin Gym
• Watch: ESPNU/ESPN3 Friday | Ivy League Digital Network/ESPN3 Saturday
• Listen on WPRB 103.3 and TuneIn
• Live Stats
• Tickets
• Follow @Princeton_Hoops for in-game updates
• Princeton Game Notes
• Princeton is 12-0 in the Ivy and winner of 15 in a row, both bests since the 1997-98 season when Princeton went 14-0 and won a program-record 20 straight games.
• Up next: It's the inaugural Ivy League Tournament at The Palestra. Princeton is assured of at least the second seed, and a win or a Harvard loss is the simplest way for the Tigers to clinch the 1 seed. Princeton could also clinch based on tiebreakers involving several other scenarios, but suffice it to say the Tigers' magic number is 1 to clinch the top line.
• The Tigers clinched their 27th Ivy League championship, its first since 2011, with Saturday's win at Cornell. As of now, that's no worse than a shared title, and locking up the No. 1 seed outright would also clinch the outright Ivy title, its first since 2004.
• No team has started 12-0 in the Ivy without going 14-0. This year's Tigers are the 14th Ivy team to start 12-0, and the 13 14-0 teams are Cornell (2008), Penn (1970, '71, '93, '94, '95, 2000 and '03) and Princeton (1969, '76, '91, '97 and '98).
• Mitch Henderson has already passed two coaches on Princeton's all-time wins list since the start of the season, and his next win will make him Princeton's outright third-winningest coach all-time. Franklin "Cappy" Cappon (250, 1938-43 & 46-61), for whom the men's basketball head coaching position is named, and Pete Carril (514, 1967-96), for whom Henderson played his first two seasons at Princeton, are in first and second place.
• Princeton and Vermont are the only league-unbeaten teams in Division I. The Catamounts have the America East tournament next, while the Tigers will wrap up their regular season this weekend.
• Princeton entered the week with the nation's third-longest winning streak behind Vermont (18) and Monmouth (16). Vermont was due to start its conference tournament Wednesday while Monmouth will do the same Friday.
• Devin Cannady's 70 3-pointers are tied for eighth-most in program history, and he's only five 3s from fifth. The record belongs to Sean Jackson '92 with 25 as a junior. Getting to 84 3s will put Cannady in a tie for second with Jackson's senior year. Cannady's .922 free throw percentage would put him in line for the best clip in program history among those with at least 40 attempts, with Joe Heiser '68 at .900 (117-130) in 1967-68.
• Princeton's 15-game winning streak is tied for the fifth-longest single-season streak in program history behind a 20-gamer in 1997-98, a 19-gamer in 1924-25, an 18-gamer in 1996-97, a 16-gamer in 1990-91 and a 15-gamer in 1991-92.
• Princeton's 7-0 Ivy League road record, sealed last weekend on the Columbia-Cornell trip, is its first since 2004.Â
• Against Harvard on Feb. 4, the Crimson outshot the Tigers from the field 41.7 percent to 37.5 percent, from 3 33.3 percent to 28.1 percent, from the line 56.3 percent to 42.9 percent, and outrebounded the Tigers 40-32. What helped the Tigers get the 57-56 win was capitalizing on Harvard's 17 turnovers while committing just 10 of their own. Points off turnovers were 18-12 for Princeton, and while Harvard had a higher 3-point percentage, Princeton took 32 3s, its fourth-most of the season and the most, by six, for a Harvard opponent this season.
• Against Dartmouth on Feb. 3, the Big Green outshot Princeton from the field 49.1 percent to 43.3 percent and from 3 40 percent to 32 percent. What helped Princeton get the win was going 9 of 11 from the stripe to Dartmouth's 4 of 7 and capitalizing on Dartmouth's 11 turnovers for 17 points to just four Big Green points off six Tiger turnovers.
• Harvard took 48 FGs against Princeton and is 1-3 when taking fewer than 50 shots in a game this season.
• Junior Amir Bell has enjoyed quite a bounce-back in the Ivy League season. In non-conference play, he averaged 3.8 ppg while shooting .268 from the field and .120 from 3. In Ivy play, he has averaged 9.2 ppg, shooting .576 from the field and .563 from 3. Bell has Princeton's highest shooting percentages overall (among players with >1 FGA) and from 3 in Ivy League play.
• Senior Steven Cook, who has fundraised for a Sudanese hospital and interned with an anti-poverty organization in his native Chicago, in addition to being a team tri-captain this season, a two-time All-Ivy Leaguer and an Academic All-Ivy League honoree, was named to the NABC Good Works Team and a CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree. The NABC honor makes him one of five Division I players selected, and Cook will travel to the Final Four to be recognized as part of the Good Works Team. He is the program's first Academic All-District honoree since Justin Conway '07 in 2007.
• With Steven Cook and Spencer Weisz both as active members of the 1,000-point club, it's the first time since the last month-plus of the 2011-12 season that Princeton had two 1,000-point scorers at the same time (Douglas Davis '12 & Ian Hummer '13). Cook is the fifth player to reach 1,000 points under Mitch Henderson (Davis, Hummer, T.J. Bray '14, Weisz), putting Henderson alongside only Pete Carril as Princeton coaches who have had as many as five players reach 1,000 during their tenures. Carril had 14 during his 29-season career.
• The Tigers are 29-5 in home back-to-back Ivy weekend games under Mitch Henderson, including 15-2 on Fridays and 14-3 on Saturdays of home back-to-backs. Princeton is 22-14 in road games on back-to-back Ivy weekends under Henderson, including 12-6 in Friday games and 10-8 in Saturday games of such weekends.
• Princeton is 35-5 against the Ivy at home under Mitch Henderson and 26-16 on the road.Â
• Under Mitch Henderson, the Tigers now have a 41-35 (.539) record in the pre-New Year portion of the schedule and a 74-24 (.755) record from Jan. 1 forward.
• Through Monday's (2/27) games, Princeton has the most wins among New Jersey's eight Division I teams since Mitch Henderson took over at Princeton prior to the 2011-12 season. Princeton's 115 wins during that time are three better than Seton Hall's 112.
• Through Saturday's (2/25) games, Princeton ranked No. 1 in the nation in fewest turnovers (264) and No. 2 in fewest fouls (405). The Tigers were also top 10 percent nationally in 3s per game (eighth, 10.2), scoring defense (11th, 61.7 ppg allowed), turnovers per game (15th, 10.6), turnover margin (26th, +3.0/game), fouls per game (24th, 16.2), assist-to-turnover ratio (25th, 1.36) and scoring margin (33rd, +9.9).
• Through Sunday's (2/26) games, Princeton ranked 53rd in the RPI. That was 76 spots better than the next-highest Ivy team, Harvard, at 129. Princeton has faced three teams ranked higher than it in the RPI, including VCU (24), Monmouth (41) and Cal (51).Â
• Senior Spencer Weisz has been close to a triple-double this season, most recently getting nine points, eight assists and seven rebounds Feb. 17 at Yale. He netted 13 assists Dec. 10 at Liberty. He got 10 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists against Saint Joseph's on Dec. 14. He had nine points, eight rebounds and seven assists Dec. 31 against Cal Poly. Princeton has never had a recorded triple-double.
• At Bucknell, Weisz surpassed the 300-assist and 500-rebound mark, becoming the third player in program history to have 1,000 points along with 500 boards and 300 helpers. He's the only player in program history with 1,000 points, 500 boards, 300 helpers and 200 3-pointers. Weisz stands at 1,191 points, 582 rebounds, 358 assists and 202 3s. The other two players are Kit Mueller '91 (1,546 pts., 560 reb., 381 ast.) and Ian Hummer '13 (1,625 pts., 725 reb., 308 ast.).Â
• ESPN's Feb. 23 bracketology had the Tigers as a 13th seed in the Midwest in Greenville, S.C. against Duke. Among Princeton opponents, VCU was a ninth seed in the South, Cal was an 11th seed in the East, Monmouth was a 13th seed in the South and Bucknell was a 14th seed in the South.
• Princeton enters the weekend leading the Ivy in scoring defense (61.7 ppg allowed), scoring margin (+9.9), 3FG percentage (.386), turnover margin (+3.00), assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.4), defensive rebounding percentage (.764) and 3s per game (10.2). Devin Cannady leads the Ivy in free throw percentage (.922) and Steven Cook leads in steals per game at 1.6. Harvard leads the Ivy in FG percentage defense (.404), 3FG percentage defense (.305)and blocks per game (4.8). Chris Lewis leads the Ivy in field goal percentage (.664), Siyani Chambers leads in assists (6.0/game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.2). Dartmouth's Evan Boudreaux is the Ivy's leading rebounder at 9.4/game and defensive rebounder at 7.4/game.Â