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Time for Ivy Madness: Men's Hoops Team to Begin Ivy League Tournament Today at Penn
March 07, 2017 | Men's Basketball
This year, there is a new stage. Beginning Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on ESPNU, the Tigers will aim for "16-0" when they take on Penn in the semifinal round of the Ivy League Tournament at The Palestra. Harvard and Yale will follow at 4 p.m. with the winners meeting Sunday at noon on ESPN2.
Below are all the links and notes you'll need for the weekend.
Princeton at Penn, Saturday, Mar. 11, 1:30 p.m., The Palestra
• Watch: ESPNU/ESPN3
• Listen on WPRB 103.3 and TuneIn
• Tickets
• Live Stats Saturday
• Follow @Princeton_Hoops for in-game updates
• Princeton Game Notes
• Princeton's 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), has earned the Tigers their 27th Ivy League championship and the top seed in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament and a guaranteed spot in the NIT, should Princeton fall short in the Ivy Tournament.
• Up next: Princeton will be watching a selection show Sunday night, whether it's the NCAA show on CBS at 6 p.m. or the NIT show at 8:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
• Though this is the first Ivy League Tournament, there were 10 Ivy League playoff games to determine the NCAA bid when teams ended the regular season tied (two of the games occurred in 2002 when three teams tied). In only one of those 10 instances did one team sweep the other during the regular season. In 1996, Penn swept Princeton before the Tigers beat the Quakers in the playoff. Princeton then went on to beat defending NCAA champion UCLA in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
• Princeton is at 21 wins, one short of its most under Mitch Henderson (2015-16). Winning the Ivy League Tournament would get Princeton to 23 wins, its most since going 25-7 in 2011, its last Ivy title and NCAA Tournament year.
• Should the Tigers win the Ivy League Tournament, they would earn their 25th NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2011, when the Tigers lost to Kentucky 57-55 in Tampa. The Ivy League has won four NCAA Tournament games since 2010, with Cornell advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2010, Harvard winning first-round games in 2013 and 2014, and Yale winning a first-round game in 2016. It's the most successful stretch for the Ivy League since 1978-84, when Penn and Princeton combined to win nine NCAA Tournament games. The Ivy's only NCAA Tournament wins from 1985-2009 came from Penn in 1994 and Princeton in 1996 and 1998.
• Should Princeton make it there, how have 14-0 Ivy League teams done in the NCAA Tournament? Three of the previous 13 14-0 teams won NCAA Tournament games, including Penn's wins over Duquesne and South Carolina in 1971, Penn's win over Nebraska in 1994, and Princeton's first-round win over UNLV in 1998.
• Should Princeton make it there, how have 14-0 Ivy League teams been seeded in the NCAA Tournament? Nine previous 14-0 seasons have occurred since seeding began in 1979. In order: 8 for Princeton in 1991, 14 for Penn in 1993, 11 for Penn in 1994, 12 for Penn in 1995, 12 for Princeton in 1997, 5 for Princeton in 1998, 13 for Penn in 2000, 11 for Penn in 2003 and 14 for Cornell in 2008.
• This year, three conference tournaments are at predetermined sites that the usual home courts of teams other than the top/higher seed, including the Ivy, the MAAC and the Mountain West. Fourth-seeded Siena beat top-seeded Monmouth in the MAAC semifinals in Siena's usual home building, and the Tigers will try to avoid the same fate Saturday. UNLV, the 11th seed in the MWC Tournament, was set to open play on its home court Wednesday.
• Princeton has trailed by double figures only twice during the Ivy League season, in first halves at Dartmouth Feb. 3 and at Cornell Feb. 25, both times by 10 points.
• Princeton carries a 17-game winning streak into the Ivy League Tournament, the fourth-longest single-season winning streak in program history. Princeton won 20 straight in 1997-98, 19 straight in 1925 and 18 straight in 1996-97. Princeton also won 18 straight over the 1949-50 and 1950-51 seasons. With two as a player and one as a coach, Mitch Henderson has been a part of three of the four longest single-season winning streaks in program history.
• Mitch Henderson, at 117 wins, has passed three coaches on Princeton's all-time wins list since the start of the season to become Princeton's third-winningest coach, but the '98 Princeton grad has reached such status that it'll take him a while to pass anyone else. 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 finished the regular season as only league-unbeaten teams in Division I.
• Princeton will enter the weekend with the nation's second-longest winning streak, at 17 games. Vermont won its 20th in a row Monday night in the America East semifinal and will have the chance to make it 21 Saturday (11 a.m. ET) in the America East final against Albany.
• Devin Cannady's 76 3-pointers are the fifth-most in program history, with the record at 95 (Sean Jackson '92, 1990-91) and 84, 83 and 82 as the standards in between Cannady and the top. Cannady's .924 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 seven-game winning streak against Penn is its longest in program history.
• Princeton has had a combined four games on neutral courts against Harvard and Yale. The Harvard neutral-court game was the 2011 Ivy playoff win, 63-62 at Yale, and the Yale neutral-court games were a 1920 regular-season 33-28 win in Pittsburgh, the 1963 Ivy playoff win at Fordham 65-53, and the 2002 Ivy playoff loss at Penn 76-60.
• Princeton's 7-0 Ivy League road record, sealed last weekend on the Columbia-Cornell trip, is its first since 2004.
• In two games against Penn this season, Princeton has outdone Penn in making 3s 17-10, has fewer turnovers, 29-22, and has more points from the line, going 28 of 34 to Penn's 17 of 32. The Quakers have been more accurate from the field, 42 percent to 41.2 percent, and from 3, 38.5 percent to 35.4 percent. Spencer Weisz was the Tigers' top scorer in those games, averaging 15.5 ppg, and Darnell Foreman led the Quakers at 14.0 ppg.
• Against Harvard this season, Princeton has done well on turnovers, committing just 15 to 35 for Harvard. That helped the Tigers overcome Harvard's 45.2 percent to 41.4 percent edge from the floor, a 40.8 percent to 29.3 percent advantage from 3, a 67.7 percent to 63 percent edge from the stripe and a 38-28 rpg advantage on the glass. Steven Cook led Princeton with 24.5 ppg against the Crimson, while Seth Towns led Harvard at 14.5 ppg.
• Against Yale this season, Princeton outshot the Bulldogs 47.2 percent to 38.8 percent from the field, 42.6 percent to 28.6 percent from distance, 81 to 80 percent from the line, and had fewer turnovers, 28-21. Yale had a 33-29.5 rpg edge on the boards. Myles Stephens led Princeton against Yale at 19.5 ppg and Alex Copeland led Yale against Princeton at 14.5 ppg.
• Junior Amir Bell 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 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.
• 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. On Mar. 2, he became the program's first CoSIDA Academic All-America winner, earning third-team honors, since Steve Goodrich '98 in 1998. Earlier, he was named the program's first CoSIDA 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.
• Under Mitch Henderson, the Tigers now have a 41-35 (.539) record in the pre-New Year portion of the schedule and a 76-24 (.760) record from Jan. 1 forward.
• Through Sunday's (3/5) 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 117 wins during that time are three better than Seton Hall's 114.
• Through Sunday's (3/5) games, Princeton ranked No. 1 in the nation in fewest turnovers (273) and No. 2 in fewest fouls (438). The Tigers were also top 10 percent nationally in turnover per game (sixth, 10.1), 3s per game (eighth, 10.1), scoring defense (ninth, 61.5 ppg allowed), turnover margin (15th, +3.5/game), assist-to-turnover ratio (18th, 1.42), scoring margin (27th, +10.7), winning percentage (27th, .778), and fouls per game (30th, 16.2)
• Through Sunday's (3/5) games, Princeton ranked 51st in the RPI. That was 80 spots better than the next-highest Ivy team, Harvard, at 131. Princeton has faced two teams ranked higher than it in the RPI, VCU (23) and Monmouth (46).
• 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 1,210 points, 592 rebounds, 370 assists and 204 3s. The other two players with 1,000/500/300 are Kit Mueller '91 (1,546 pts., 560 reb., 381 ast.) and Ian Hummer '13 (1,625 pts., 725 reb., 308 ast.).
• ESPN's Mar. 2 bracketology had the Tigers as a 13th seed in the West in Greenville, S.C. against Duke. Among Princeton opponents, VCU was a ninth seed in the Midwest and Bucknell was a 13th seed in the East.
• Princeton enters Saturday leading the Ivy in scoring defense (61.5 ppg allowed), scoring margin (+10.7), 3FG percentage (.384), turnover margin (+3.52), assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.4), defensive rebounding percentage (.762) and 3s per game (10.1). Devin Cannady leads the Ivy in free throw percentage (.924) and Steven Cook leads in steals per game at 1.6.
• In Ivy League games only, Princeton led the league in scoring defense (56.4 ppg allowed), scoring margin (+13.5), field goal percentage defense (.417), rebounding defense (31.1/game), turnover margin (+5.00), assist-to-turnove ratio (+1.4), defensive rebounding percentage (.760), and 3s per game (9.6). Devin Cannady was the leading free throw shooter at .941 and leader in 3s per game at 3.1, Spencer Weisz led in steals at 2.0 and minutes at 35.4/game, and Amir Bell led in 3FG percentage at .559.