Men's Basketball To Host Penn For Senior Day

Game 29: Princeton (18-10, 7-6) vs Penn (8-18, 4-9) – 3/8, 2 p.m.
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PRINCETON, N.J. – Regular season play for the 2024-25 season wraps up for the Princeton University men's basketball team inside Jadwin Gymnasium on Mar. 8 against the University of Pennsylvania. The Tigers' game against the Quakers will serve as Senior Day.

Win And In
If the Tigers' defeat the Quakers, Princeton will clinch a spot in the Ivy League Tournament for the seventh time in its eighth year of existence. Princeton can also clinch a spot with a loss to Penn if Yale defeats Brown.

Senior Day
A ceremony will be held before the game honoring the Tigers' Class of 2025; Blake Peters, Darius Gakwasi and Philip Byriel.

One Of The Nation's Top Winning Percentages
The Tigers winning percentage of 74.0% since the start of the 2021-22 season ranks No. 14 in the nation for best winning percentage. Princeton has gone 88-301 in that time span.

Impressive Home Record
Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Princeton has gone 46-9 at home for an 83.64 winning percentage.

Impressive Road Record
Since the start of the 2021-22 season, the Tigers rank sixth in the nation for highest winning percentage on the road (68.8%). Princeton has a 33-15 road since 2021.

Last Time Out
Princeton fell to Cornell, 102-70, on Mar. 2 inside Newman Arena in Ithaca, New York. Xaivian Lee led the Tigers with 14 points, five assists and three rebounds while Caden Pierce added 12 points.

All-Time Series Against Penn
The Quakers lead the series, 126-125. Should the Tigers defeat the Quakers, the series would be tied for the first time since 1901. In addition, the Tigers have won 12-straight games over the Quakers.

All-Time Series Against Penn Under Mitch Henderson
Henderson is 21-4 all-time against Penn as head coach of the Tigers.

Last Time They Met
A pair of late free throws by Jackson Hicke pushed the Tigers past the Quakers inside the Palestra on Feb. 7, 61-59. CJ Happy led the Tigers in scoring with 13 points and had eight rebounds, while Xaivian Lee finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Hicke also recorded 11 points and four rebounds.

Tied As The Second-Winningest Coach In School History
With 250 career victories, Mitch Henderson is tied with Franklin C. "Cappy" Cappon for No. 2 all-time at Princeton for wins. With one more win he would own the No. 2 spot outright and trail only Naismith Hall of Fame member Pete Carril, who ended his career with 514 victories.

National Notice
After his 21-point, 14-rebound performance in Princeton's win over Rutgers on Dec. 21, Caden Pierce was recognized nationally. On Dec. 23 he was named Lute Olson National Player of the Week by collegeinsider.com then on Dec. 24 he was honored as one of five Oscar Robertson Trophy National Players of the Week by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). In addition, Pierce received the Ivy League Player of the Week award for the sixth time in his career on Dec. 23.

Early-Season Watch Lists
Pierce was named to the Lute Olson National Player of the Year Award Early-Season Watch List along with the Lou Henson Mid Major National Player of the Year Award Early-Season Watch List. He was joined by Lee on the Lou Henson Mid Major National Player of the Year Award Early-Season Watch List.

Karl Malone Power Forward Of The Year Top-20 Preseason Watch List
Pierce was one of 20 players named to the Naismith Starting 5 - Karl Malone Power Forward Of The Year Top-20 Preseason Watch List. This prestigious award honors the best power forwards in men's college basketball and is presented by the Basketball Hall of Fame, highlighting the elite talent in the sport.

One Of Five At Princeton
Pierce is one of five players at Princeton to record 1,000 points and 700 rebounds. The other four are Carl Belz '59, Bill Bradley '65, Chris Thomforde '69, and Ian Hummer '13.

The 2024 Ivy League Player of the Year
Pierce is averaging 11.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists. He leads the Ivy League in total rebounds (200) and rebounds-per-game. Pierce also ranks eighth in the conference in assist/turnover ratio (1.6)

An Active Career Leader
His 27 double-doubles rank No. 20 among active players in NCAA DI men's basketball and his 8.0 rebound average No. 19.

Jersey Jam Most Outstanding Player
Pierce was named Most Outstanding Player at the Jersey Jam after finishing with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting and five rebounds.

Pierce Milestone Watch
Pierce has 1,045 career points, which ranks No. 32 on the Tigers' all-time list. He is also sitting on 88 makes from three, requiring 12 more to get to 100.

Generational Rebounder
With 700 career rebounds, Pierce ranks No. 7 all-time at Princeton for most rebounds. Pierce needs 10 rebounds to move up a spot to No. 6, a ranking currently held by Christopher Thomforde '69 who had 709 rebounds.

Lee's 2024-25 Awards
Xaivian Lee was honored as the Ivy League Player of the Week for the second time this season and the fourth time in his career on Jan. 21 after averaging 26.0 points-per-game, 8.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.5 steals in Princeton's wins over Dartmouth and Columbia. Lee was also named Ivy Player of the Week and Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) Player of the Week on Dec. 10.

Testing The Waters
Lee declared for the 2024 NBA draft but elected to return to Princeton for his junior year. He was one of 45 players selected to attend the NBA G League Elite Camp in May.

Historic Triple Double
Lee became the first Tiger in program history to record a triple double since assists were first recorded in 1974-95 in Princeton's win at Saint Joe's on Dec. 3. Lee tied the team-high in scoring with 18 points on 7-for-14 shooting, had a game and career-high 13 rebounds along with a game and career-high 10 assists.

First Ivy Player To Do It In Years
The last Ivy League player before Lee to record a triple double was Yale's Jordan Bruner against Cornell in a double overtime game on Feb. 21, 2020. The most recent Ivy player to record a triple double in a regulation game before Lee was the University of Pennsylvania's AJ Brodeur on Nov. 29, 2019, against Arizona.

Historic Assist Numbers
Before Lee, the last Princeton player to have at least 10 assists in a game was Spencer Weisz '17, who had 13 at Liberty on Dec. 10, 2016. His 13 assists against Liberty also marked the last time a Tiger had at least 11 assists in a game, a feat accomplished by Lee on Dec. 21 against Rutgers.

Climbing The Single Season Assists Rankings
Through 28 games, Lee has 145 assists which ranks No. 2 in program history for most assists in a season. The program record of 161 assists is held by Tosan Evbuomwan '23 and William Ryan '86.

Climbing The Career Assists Rankings
Lee's 281 career assists rank No. 11 all-time in school history. To enter Princeton's all-time top-10, he needs to pass Marcus Schroeder '10, who handed out 295 assists.

Floor General
Lee became the first Princeton player to record seven or more assists in consecutive games since Tosan Evbuomwan '23 had seven against Bucknell (Dec. 7, 2021) and eight at Lafayette (Dec. 11, 2021). Lee had nine assists against Duquense (Nov. 8) then eight at Northeastern (Nov. 10).

Assist Rate Leader
Lee ranks 31st in the nation in assist rate (34.6), a stat that measures assists divided by the field goals made by the player's teammates while he is on the court. Lee's 5.2 assists also rank No. 45 in the nation.

A Top Offensive Rating
Lee ranks 24th in the nation in offensive rating (112.8), a stat that measures personal offensive efficiency developed by Dean Oliver.

Offensive X-Plosion
Lee has scored 30 points or more four times in his career, including against Dartmouth (33) on Jan. 18, 2025, Texas State (30) on Nov. 22, 2024, Harvard (33) on Jan. 6, 2023, and Northeastern (30) on Nov. 25, 2023.

All-Around Game
Through 28 games, Lee is averaging 16.8 points-per-game, 6.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.1 steals with a 2.4 assist/turnover ratio. Lee ranks second in the Ivy League in assist/turnover ratio, second in assists, sixth in points-per-game, seventh in free throw percentage (78.2%), eighth in rebounds and tenth in steals.

Milestone Year For Lee
In Princeton's win at Penn on Feb. 7, Lee became the 38th member of the 1,000 Point Club. His 1,117 points rank No. 21 all-time at Princeton. To move into the top-20, Lee needs to pass Christopher Thomforde '69, who scored 1,112 points.

Blake P3ters
Blake Peters is averaging 9.8 points-per-game and ranks sixth in the conference in three-point field goals-per-game (2.5), seventh in steals (1.2) and tenth in three-point percentage (38.4%).

Moving Up The All-Time Career Three-Pointers Made List
With 193 career three-pointers, Peters ranks No. 7 on Princeton's all-time list. Should he make seven more three-pointers, Peters will become one of six Princeton players to make 200. With 209 three-pointers, Spencer Weisz '17 ranks one spot above Peters No. 6.

Moving Up The All-Time Single Season Three-Pointers Made List
Peters' 71 made three-point field goals are tied for No. 10 with Matthew Lapin '90 on the Tigers' all-time list.

A Third Ivy League Player Of The Week In 2024-25
On Jan. 6, Dalen Davis joined Pierce (Dec. 23) and Lee (Dec. 9) as Tigers named Ivy Player of the Week in 2024-25. In Princeton's wins over Akron and Kean, Davis averaged 13.5 points-per-game, 4.0 steals, 3.5 assists and 3.0 rebounds. Against the Zips, Davis buried the game-winning three-point shot in the final moments of the contest.

Davis' Career Day
Davis scored a career-high 25 points against Northeastern Nov. 10, exceeding his previous career-high of 21, set on in the Ivy League Tournament semifinal against Brown on Mar. 16, 2024. Davis' nine made field goals were a career-high, while his four made three-pointers tied his career-best.

The Development Of Jackson Hicke
In the Tigers' win at Columbia on Feb. 28, Jackson Hicke scored a career-high 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting. In Ivy League play, Hicke is averaging 7.4 points and 3.5 rebounds. Additionally, Hicke made the game-winning free throws at Penn on Feb. 7.

Happy's First Career Start
CJ Happy made his first career start on Feb. 1 against Brown. In Ivy League play, Happy is averaging 5.8 points and 2.5 rebounds. His career-high against a DI opponent came on Nov. 24 against Portland when he scored 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting.

Stanton's Career Night
Jack Stanton provided a spark off the bench against Yale on Jan. 31, scoring 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field and 3-for-5 from three in 10 minutes.

Phil-ing It Up
Philip Byriel had a career night on Dec. 3 in Princeton's victory at Saint Joe's, recording career-highs in points (18) and made three-pointers (six).

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