Tigers Hit the Road Again at Cornell, Columbia This Weekend

It's time to hit the road again for the Princeton men's basketball team, which will continue battling for an Ivy League Tournament berth Friday at Cornell and Saturday at Columbia.

Princeton (11-12, 3-2 Ivy) at Cornell (9-12, 3-5 Ivy), Friday, Feb. 16, 8 p.m. ET, Newman Arena, Ithaca, N.Y.
Princeton at Columbia (6-15, 3-5), Saturday, Feb. 17, 7 p.m. ET, Levien Gym, New York, N.Y.
• Watch: Ivy League Network (Friday) | Ivy League Network/Eleven Sports (Saturday)
• Listen: WPRB 103.3 FM/TuneIn
• Live Stats: Friday | Saturday
• Tickets: Friday | Saturday
• 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. (The Feb. 6 broadcast was Wednesday, Feb. 7 due to the Penn game.) 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 Tigers will have their final home weekend next Friday against Harvard and Saturday against Dartmouth. It'll be the final home Ivy games of the careers of seniors Aaron Young, Mike LeBlanc, Amir Bell and Alec Brennan.

• Friday at Cornell, the Tigers will be looking to break a four-game Ivy skid. Princeton last lost four Ivy games in a row in 2014 before winning winning eight of the final 10 in the league. Princeton hasn't lost five Ivy games in a row since 2008, when the team endured a nine-game league skid on the way to a 3-11 Ivy record.

• Princeton, Cornell and Columbia are all on the outside looking in at the Ivy League Tournament as the third-to-last Ivy weekend begins, all at 3-5 in a tie for fifth. Brown and Yale, each 4-4, are tied for third and have the last two Ivy Tournament spots with six games to go.

• Princeton has done well of late against Cornell and Columbia, winning six in a row overall against the Big Red and the last two in Ithaca since a 2015 loss. Princeton has won eight in a row against Columbia since a 2014 home loss, and the Tigers haven't lost in Levien Gym since 2009, winning eight in a row in Manhattan after losing four in a row there from 2006-09. It's the team's longest active road winning streak in the league, four years longer than the four-game winning streak at Brown.

• Against Cornell on Jan. 13 in Jadwin in a 91-54 Tiger win, Princeton rode a big rebounding advantage (45-27) to 16 more field goal tries (71-55), and 13 offensive rebounds led to a 12-3 edge in second-chance points. Princeton also outscored the Big Red 44-14 in the paint while adding 10 3-pointers. Devin Cannady had a game-high 20 points including three 3-pointers while Jerome Desrosiers added 14 points off the bench, including four 3-pointers, matching what is still his career high for 3s made. Matt Morgan had 16 points for Cornell with Terrance McBride adding 11. Stone Gettings, who averages 17.1 points a game this season, scored six against the Tigers, with McBride outdoing his 3.7 ppg average. Princeton outshot Cornell for the game 53.3 percent to 36.4 percent.

• Against Columbia in a 72-56 Tiger win on Jan. 12, Devin Cannady led the Tigers with 17 points with Sebastian Much (13) and Jerome Desrosiers (12) joining Cannady in double figures. Princeton outshot Columbia 46.2 percent to 34.4 percent from the field. The Tigers won despite committing 15 turnovers (nine for Columbia), leading to nine fewer field goal tries. Mike Smith (17.3 ppg, 14 vs. Princeton) and Quinton Adlesh (11.8 ppg, 13 vs. Princeton) were in the ballpark of their season-long scoring averages, but the Tigers held Lukas Meisner (11.9 ppg) scoreless, going 0 for 4 from the field. Also helping the Tigers were 15 3-pointers drained on 31 tries, with six Tigers contributing to the total and Desrosiers and Much hitting four apiece.

• Columbia opponents average 10 3-pointers per game with six opponents, including Princeton, making 14 or more 3-pointers against the Lions. For comparison, Princeton opponents average 7.2 3s made per game. The Lions also hit their share of triples, averaging 10.5 3s per game, good for 14th in the nation entering Tuesday's games.

• Cornell is 8-2 when shooting 48 percent or better from the field and 1-10 when shooting below 46 percent. The Big Red are 7-2 when shooting .364 or better from 3-point range and 2-10 when shooting below that mark. Only five Cornell opponents have shot below .400 from the field, and 16 have hit at least 40 percent. Cornell foes average 8.9 3s made per game, ahead of Cornell's own 7.7 made per game, Only eight of 21 Cornell opponents have made at least 10 3s this season, and only two have made more than 11, with Northeastern making 12 and Columbia 16. Cornell is 2-6 when opponents make at least 10 3s and 7-6 when holding opponents below 10 3s.

• Devin Cannady continues his climb up Princeton's 1,000 career points list after joining the club Jan. 6 at Penn. Now 16th all-time at 1,137, he's one of just five players with between 1,100 and 1,200 points, along with Chris Thomforde '69 (1,122), Rick Hielscher '95 (1,130), Frank Sowinski '78 (1,133) and former teammate Steven Cook '17 (1,148).

• Cannady has 397 points this season and needs 119 the rest of the way to have scored 516, which would be the most any Tiger has scored since Brian Taylor '84 poured in 676 points in 1972 (entered with the Class of 1973). Cannady needs 489 points over the rest of this season and next to pass Ian Hummer '13 to become the second-highest scorer in Princeton history. It'd be the third time that the title of second-to-Bill Bradley '65 (2,503) 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.

• Cannady, with 65 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.

• 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 more than doubled that already, with 1,129 minutes so far. Will Gladson had 304 of the 462 last year and Much, Desrosiers and Schwieger have 1,064 of the 1,129.

• Princeton has turned around tough Ivy starts before under Mitch Henderson. In his first season of 2012, Princeton was 2-3 before going 8-1 the rest of the way for a 10-4 finish. In 2014, Princeton started 0-4 in the Ivy before going 8-2 the rest of the way to finish 8-6. In 2015, Princeton was 5-5 in the Ivy before winning the last four to finish 9-5.

• Entering Tuesday's (2/13) games, Princeton ranked in the top 10 in Division I in fewest turnovers (19th, 275) and fewest fouls (26th, 393). Devin Cannady had the top individual ranking at 42nd 36:05 minutes per game. Cornell ranked sixth in fewest fouls (361) and Matt Morgan was eighth in points per game at 22.8. Columbia was 14th in fewest turnovers (270), 14th in 3FGs made per game (10.5), and 23rd in fewest fouls (391), while Quinton Adlesh was sixth with a .483 3FG percentage.

• The Tigers used their ninth starting lineup of the season Saturday at Dartmouth, pairing Jerome Desrosiers with Will Gladson alongside the trio of Amir Bell, Devin Cannady and Myles Stephens, who have started every game. Eleven Tigers have started a game this season, and the Tigers last used the same starting lineup in back-to-back games against Yale and Brown Feb. 2-3.

• Feb. 6 against Penn, Devin Cannady (201) became the sixth Tiger with 200 career 3-pointers. He hasn't passed anyone on the career 3-pointer list since Dec. 6 at George Washington, when he passed Dan Mavraides '11 for sixth, but Cannady is nearly done chipping away at the 43 3-pointer gap between Mavraides and Spencer Weisz '17 (209) in fifth. 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 65 3s.

• Devin Cannady, Myles Stephens and Amir Bell have combined for 50.7 percent of the minutes through 23 games. All three average at least 33.3 minutes per game, and no other Tiger is closer than rookie Sebastian Much at 19.2 mpg. The Bell-Cannady-Stephens trio accounts for 2,952 of the 4,053 points on the roster, or 72.8 percent.

• Under Mitch Henderson, the Tigers now have a 48-42 (.533) record in the pre-New Year portion of the schedule and an 82-30 (.732) record from Jan. 1 forward.

• 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.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results