Five Things on The First Half of Princeton's Season

PRINCETON, N.J. – With some down time to prepare for finals, the Princeton Tigers do not play again until next Friday at Yale (6 p.m.). With 20 days between contests, let take a look back at the first half of the 2017-18 season.

Princeton sits with an RPI of 48 and received votes in the most recent USA Today Coaches' Poll. It's the first time that the Tigers received votes in the poll since Jan. 4, 2016. Head coach Courtney Banghart's squad has run off seven consecutive wins and a 13-3 mark behind the 10th ranked scoring defense in the country (54.9). The Tigers are also No. 40 nationally in three-point field goal defense (28.4) and 58th in scoring margin (+10.6).

Winning Vibes: During the Tigers' seven-game winning streak, they have outscored opponents by an average of 19.3 points. Princeton has shot 44.1 percent, while holding opponents to 34.8 percent. Four players are shooting over 45 percent (Alarie, Robinson, Littlefield and Rush). The squad have posted a +10.1 rebounding margin and have created 15.9 turnovers per game as well during this stretch.

Bella Alarie: It's hard to follow the freshman year that Alarie had, but the Bethesda, Md., native has managed to be even better as a sophomore. She is one of the best players in the Ivy League, averaging 15.8 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, 1.3 steals per game. Alarie has been more efficient this season, shooting 51.9 percent from the floor including six straight contests over 50 percent. She had eight double-doubles this year including an incredible 18-point, 12-rebound, 8-block performance at Penn (Jan. 6).

Leslie Robinson: In the four games to start the season, Robinson posted a stat line of 7.8 points on 35.3 percent shooting along with 7.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 0.75 steals per game. In the 12 games since, the senior captain is averaging 11.5 points on 47.8 percent from the floor, adding 6.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.6 steals per contest. Robinson has snagged at least 10 points in nine of those meetings.

Carlie Littlefield: The freshman point guard has done a remarkable job running the offense for Princeton. She is a three-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week and has dropped in at least 10 points in five of her last seven games. She is second on the unit in minutes played (495) and has recorded 9.5 points, 3.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game.

Gabrielle Rush: The junior sharpshooter has been on fire from deep during the Tigers' seven-game winning streak. Rush is 17-of-33 (51.5 percent) from beyond the arc in the last seven games, scoring 8.5 points per contest. In the first nine games of the season, the guard was just 7-of-38 (18.4 percent) from the three-point line.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results