Men's Hoops Team Aims for Weekend Sweep as Cornell Visits Saturday

Saturday, January 13

Princeton, N.J.

7:00 PM

Princeton University

Cornell

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Princeton men's basketball vs. Columbia, Princeton, NJ, January12, 2018.

Senior Mike LeBlanc and the Tigers will take on Cornell Saturday.

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Men's Hoops Team Aims for Weekend Sweep as Cornell Visits Saturday

January 13, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Princeton opened the first home weekend of Ivy League play Friday night with 15 3-pointers in a 72-56 win over Columbia. Now comes the chance for a weekend sweep as the Cornell Big Red come to Jadwin. The first 500 fans will receive a free rally towel.

Princeton (8-8, 1-1 Ivy) vs. Cornell (6-8, 0-1 Ivy), Saturday, Jan. 13, 7 p.m. ET, Jadwin Gym, Princeton, N.J.
• Watch: Ivy League Network/ESPN3
• Listen: WPRB 103.3 FM/TuneIn
• Live Stats
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• Follow @Princeton_Hoops for in-game updates
• Princeton Game Notes

• The Mitch Henderson Show airs Tuesday nights during basketball season from 6-7 p.m. on Fox Sports 920 The Jersey. Originating live from Winberie's Restaurant & Bar (1 Palmer Square, Princeton), the weekly show features men's basketball head coach Mitch Henderson '98 along with assistant coaches, players, and other special guests. Derek Jones, the play-by-play voice for Princeton basketball on the Princeton IMG Sports Network and Ivy League Network, serves as host – tweet him your questions for Coach Henderson @DerekJones79. Fans who can't make it Winberie's can listen on Fox Sports 920 or live online. A podcast of each episode is also available following the show at GoPrincetonTigers.com/podcasts and the Princeton Athletics channel on iTunes.

• Up next: The break for first-semester finals is ahead for Princeton, which will hit the court again Jan. 28 vs. Rowan. The Tigers beat the Profs 108-46 last year, the most points Princeton put up since 1971 against Yale (108).

• Devin Cannady continues his climb up Princeton's 1,000 career points list after joining the club last Saturday at Penn. Friday night, he jumped two spots to 30th all-time at 1,035 points with the next five players all within 30 points: Sydney Johnson '97 (1,044), Dan Mavraides '11 (1,054), Armond Hill '85 (1,057), Jim Brangan '60 (1,062) and Art Hyland '63 (1,064).

• Counting only regular-season games, Devin Cannady is on pace for 535 points this season, which would be the most since Brian Taylor scored 676 in 1971-72, the seventh-most in program history and the fourth-most by anyone aside from Bill Bradley '65. Supposing he puts up 535 this year and does that number again as a senior, Cannady would have 1,810 points. That'd clear Ian Hummer '13 (1,625) for the second-most in program history by nearly 200 points, and it'd be the third time that the title of second-to-Bradley on Princeton's all-time scoring list has changed under Mitch Henderson. Douglas Davis '12 changed the No. 2 spot for the first time in 21 years in 2012, and Hummer did it the next year. Bradley (2,503), in a continued testament to the incredible numbers he posted during three varsity seasons, all without a 3-point line, would still be almost 700 points ahead of Cannady at 1,810.

• Cannady, with 50 3-pointers this year, is the seventh player in program history with three 50 3-pointer seasons. The others are Sean Jackson '92, Brian Earl '99, Gabe Lewullis '99, Kyle Koncz '08, Douglas Davis '12 and former teammate Spencer Weisz '17. Only Davis and Earl had four 50 3-pointer seasons, which Cannady is able to achieve as well.

• Princeton will put on the line its 17-game home Ivy League winning streak, as the Tigers haven't lost an Ivy game at home since Feb. 14, 2015 against Yale. Princeton's home Ivy winning streak is its longest since taking 21 in a row from March 5, 2010 through Feb. 8, 2013, and the last streak longer than 21 was from Jan. 12, 1996 through Feb. 27, 1999, a run of 26 straight home Ivy League wins. Princeton's run is more than three times as long as any other active home Ivy win streak, as the second-longest current run belongs to Harvard, which has won its last five.

• Last year, the four-member freshman class of Will Gladson, Jose Morales, Vittorio Reynoso-Avila and Richmond Aririguzoh logged a combined 462 minutes. This year's five-member freshman class of Sebastian Much, Jerome Desrosiers, Ryan Schwieger, Elijah Barnes and Charlie Bagin have nearly doubled that already, with 800 minutes so far. Will Gladson had 304 of the 462 last year and Much, Desrosiers and Schwieger have 787 of the 800.

• 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 six of eight after a 2-6 start.

• Perhaps not a coincidence given that both teams' coaches are Tiger alums and former teammates, Princeton and Cornell average 24.3 and 25 3-point tries a game. Princeton makes the more often, 39.8 to 33.2 percent.

• The Big Red are shooting .454 from the field this season but are 1-6 when shooting below 48 percent. Cornell is 5-2 when holding opponents to .445 shooting from the field and 1-6 when opponents shoot better than that. The Tigers are at .460 on the season.

• Looking ahead to the annual non-Division I game, the person on the Princeton bench who has scored the most points in that game won't be in uniform. Mitch Henderson scord 24 points over three games, more than seniors Aaron Young (20), Alec Brennan (19) and Mike LeBlanc (17). The person on the bench tied for the fourth-most points in the non-DI game didn't play for Princeton, however, as Skye Ettin scored 17 across two games for TCNJ in 2012 and 2013.

• Entering Friday's games, Princeton's top stat ranking was 15th in fewest turnovers (182), followed by 39th in 3FG percentage (.390), 40th in fewest fouls (262) and 44th in 3s per game (9.6). Devin Cannady ranked 14th in minutes per game (37:04), 27th in 3s per game (3.13), 48th in FT percentage (.877) and 52nd in 3FG percentage (.431).

• The Tigers have used six starting lineups this season. Ten Tigers have started a game, and only senior Amir Bell and juniors Devin Cannady and Myles Stephens have started all 16. Tiger rookies have accounted for 19 starts between Sebastian Much (11), Jerome Desrosiers (seven) and Ryan Schwieger (one), while two other seniors (Mike LeBlanc, five, Alec Brennan, four) have started, as have two sophomores (Will Gladson, two, Richmond Aririguzoh, two).

• 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 188 career 3s and the 209 that former teammate Spencer Weisz '17 posted. Princeton's single-season 3-pointer mark belongs to Sean Jackson '92, who drilled 95 in 1990-91. The Ivy League record held by Cornell alum Ryan Wittman is 109 in his senior year of 2009-10. Cannady enters the Cornell game with 50 3s.

• Devin Cannady, Myles Stephens and Amir Bell have combined for 52.7 percent of the minutes through 16 games. All three average at least 34.7 minutes per game, and no other Tiger is closer than rookie Sebastian Much at 20.9 mpg. The Bell-Cannady-Stephens trio accounts for 2,686 of the 3,528 points on the roster, or 76.1 percent.

• The KenPom top 100 through Friday's (1/12) games had five regular-season foes on the schedule, including Miami (28), Butler (39), USC (49), Middle Tennessee (60) and BYU (64). The Tigers were the top-ranked Ivy team, standing at 131 and 20 spots in front of Penn, the next Ivy team.

• Under Mitch Henderson, the Tigers now have a 48-42 (.533) record in the pre-New Year portion of the schedule and a 79-26 (.752) 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 127 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.

• 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.

• The Ivy League men's and women's basketball tournaments return to Philadelphia, where they will take place Saturday and Sunday, March 10-11, 2018. The top four teams will earn berths to the tournament, with the semifinals on Saturday and the championships on Sunday. All six games will be broadcast live on ESPN's networks. For tickets and more information please visit IvyMadness.com.

• The Ivy League Network (ILN) is available on Apple TV, Roku and the ILN app for Android and Apple devices.