Ivy League Play Set to Open Saturday at Penn

After 14 games across six states and D.C. in non-conference play, the Princeton men's basketball team will open Ivy League play Saturday at The Palestra, site of its 2017 Ivy League Tournament championship win.

Princeton (7-7, 0-0 Ivy) at Penn (9-5, 0-0 Ivy), Saturday, Jan. 6, 4 p.m. ET, The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pa.
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• Up next: It'll be the first full Ivy weekend and the Ivy home opener when Princeton hosts Columbia Friday at 8 p.m. and Cornell Saturday at 7 p.m. Both will be doubleheaders with the women's team.

• Once the Tigers and Quakers tip it up at The Palestra, the Penn-Princeton rivalry will again become Princeton's most played. Heading into the game, Princeton has faced Penn, Yale and Columbia all 237 times each. The rivalry is the only one in Princeton's history in which both Princeton and its opponent have each won 100-plus times. It's also the only Ivy series where Princeton doesn't have the lead. Even if the teams met in the Ivy League Tournament every year and Princeton swept every time (figuring no non-conference meetings), it'd take at least until 2021 for the Tigers to retake the series lead. The Quakers won 17 of the first 22 once the teams began playing in 1902, and the Tigers have never held the series lead, with Penn now ahead 124-113.

• Something Princeton can do sooner than 2021 is set a record for the longest win streak in the series for either team. Princeton has won eight in a row over the Quakers, already a Princeton-best streak in the series, and the longest for either team since Penn won eight in a row from 1993-96. The last four of those were with Mitch Henderson on the Tiger roster, as was the streak-snapper when Princeton beat Penn in the 1996 Ivy League playoff. While Penn also won eight in a row over Princeton from 1944-47, the only two longer streaks were Penn winning nine in a row from 1906-10 and 10 straight from 1933-37.

• Devin Cannady can score his 1,000th career point on his visit to The Palestra, as he stands just three away from becoming the 33rd Tiger to join the 1,000-point club and the sixth to play for Mitch Henderson. Steven Cook '17 was the last to join, hitting 1K on Feb. 10, 2017 against Cornell in Jadwin.

• A win over Penn would make the Class of 2018 the first class since freshman eligibility began with the Class of 1982 to sweep their four regular-season games at The Palestra. The last class to sweep three in the era before freshmen were eligible was the Class of 1969. Princeton has never won four straight regular-season road meetings at Penn, but would with a win this time.

• With Saturday's tipoff, it'll be 673 days since the Tigers last lost an Ivy League game, at Harvard on March 4, 2016. Though the Tigers have won 16 Ivy games in a row (not counting the Ivy League Tournament), that's nowhere near the program's record Ivy winning streak. Mitch Henderson was a part of that one too, as the Tigers won 35 straight league games from 1997-99. The league record belongs to Penn, which won 48 in a row from 1992-96.

• 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 five of six after a 2-6 start.

• The Quakers have shot better than 40 percent from the field in four straight games and in 10 of the last 12 while shooting at least 39 percent in each of the last 12 games after shrugging off colder shooting (combined .349) in season-opening losses to Fairfield and La Salle. Princeton has held three opponents below 40 percent, against Lafayette, Monmouth and Akron, all wins. The Tigers are 4-7 when opponents shoot 40 percent or better but are 3-1 in the last four such games.

• Penn averages 27 3-point attempts per game while Princeton averages 25. Only two Princeton opponents have taken 27 or more 3s in a game this season, Saint Joseph's (loss) and Akron (win). Two more have taken at least 25, in Miami (loss) and USC (win). Those four are it as far as Tiger opponents to try more than 20 3s in a game this season. The Quakers are 8-1 when shooting better than 30 percent from 3 in a game this season, and Princeton has held five opponents to 30 percent or lower from deep this season, going 4-1 in those games (Wins: Lafayette, FDU, Cal Poly, Hawai'i; Loss: GW). Overall, Princeton opponents average 20 3s taken per game.

• Penn has seen just three opponents take at least 25 3s, in Penn State Brandywine, UMKC and Dayton. The Quakers won all three of those games. Princeton is shooting 39.4 percent from deep this season, and only for Penn opponents (Toledo, Villanova, Towson, N. Illinois) have hit at least that this season, with Penn losing three of the four games (win vs. N. Illinois). No Penn opponent has made more than nine 3s in a game this season, and Princeton has hit 10 in five games, going 4-1 (Wins: Lafayette, Monmouth, Cal Poly, USC; Loss: Saint Joseph's).

• Through Monday's games, Princeton's top stat ranking was 37th in 3s per game (9.8), Devin Cannady ranked 27th in total 3s (44) and was one of three Tigers in the top 100 in minutes per game, at 36:51. Amir Bell and Myles Stephens were tied for 83rd at 34:42. Penn ranked 18th in defensive rebounds per game (29.43).

• Princeton has improved just about across the board in the 5-1 stretch since the 2-6 start. The Tigers have shot .485 overall and .410 from 3 lately after starting .442/.379, have held opponents to .428/.358 after starting .480/.361, have hit free throws more often (.736/.700), have benefited from opponents hitting fewer (.643/.803), have narrowed the rebounding gap (-0.3/gm./-2.8 gm.), and are even on turnovers after having a 1.5/gm. deficit over the first eight contests. Points are up 11.7/game for the Tigers and down 4.9/gm. for opponents.

• The Tigers have used six starting lineups this season, most recently pairing rookies Ryan Schwieger and Sebastian Much with juniors Myles Stephens and Devin Cannady and senior Amir Bell, the last three of whom have started all 14 games.

• 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 182 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.

• Devin Cannady, Myles Stephens and Amir Bell have combined for 52.7 percent of the minutes through 14 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 2,611 of the 3,386 points on the roster, or 75.4 percent.

• The KenPom top 100 through Tuesday's (1/22) games had five regular-season foes on the schedule, including Miami (17), Butler (37), USC (48), Middle Tennessee (60) and BYU (66). The Tigers were the top-ranked Ivy team, standing at 119 and 27 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 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 126 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.

• 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.

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