Columbia pictures.
Photos from today's game courtesy Robert Solomon.
Princeton 65 Columbia 40.
If you have little choice but to win your final seven conference games in order to have a chance at the Ivy League title, the first victory is likely the hardest.
Someone forgot to tell Princeton that.
Bolstered by stellar defense off the bench from Chris Clement and holding the Lions scoreless for the final 4:27 of the first half and then nearly three minutes into the vesper frame while recording 15 consecutive points in the process, the Tigers led by as many as 31 down the stretch at Levien Gym.
“We were sort of alive on defense,” said Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson. “I thought all of the things that bothered us in the first game [a tense 72-66 Tiger victory at Jadwin Gym] we corrected.”
Denton Koon paced the way with a career high 23 on 9-13 shooting including eight straight to make it 61-32 Princeton.
Ian Hummer added 17 and five assists while Clement contributed a personal best six in addition to a block, a steal and his active hands creating multiple loose balls.
Maodo Lo totaled 15 for Columbia, 10 of which came in the opening 12 minutes. Beyond that no Lion recorded more than six.
Princeton's senior class will graduate a perfect 8-0 versus Columbia. The only real obstacle in the Tigers' way on the day was some serious tunnel traffic that caused the visiting team to arrive just 50 minutes prior to tipoff.
The rest of this recap plus postgame audio from Coach Mitch Henderson, Denton Koon, Ian Hummer & Chris Clement can be found after the jump.
Friday News:
Today's Game: Princeton (12-9 / 5-2) vs. Columbia (10-12 / 2-6)
Location: Levien Gym - New York City, NY
Time: 7:00 pm ET
Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB
TV: N/A
Internet: goprincetontigers.com
Series History: Princeton leads 144-84.
Last meeting: Princeton 72 Columbia 66 - 2/2/13.
| Princeton | Columbia | |
| 7-4 | Home Record | 4-5 |
| 5-4 | Away Record | 5-7 |
| 0-1 | Neutral Record | 1-0 |
| 148 | RPI | 254 |
| 110 | Sagarin | 193 |
| 102 | Pomeroy | 187 |
| 63.6 | Points / Game | 64.6 |
| 58.0 | Points Allowed / Game | 61.9 |
| .462 | FG% | .429 |
| .714 | FT% | .747 |
| .392 | 3PT FG% | .359 |
| 31.4 | Rebounds / Game | 32.0 |
| 9.1 | Off. Rebounds / Game | 9.2 |
| +2.4 | Rebounding Margin | +1.1 |
| 14.6 | Assists / Game | 13.4 |
| 12.5 | Turnovers / Game | 10.9 |
| 3.2 | Blocks / Game | 2.9 |
| Hummer: 15.8 | Points | Barbour: 12.4 |
| Hummer: 6.4 | Rebounds | Cisco: 5.7 |
| Hummer: 4.4 | Assists | Barbour: 4.5 |
| Bray: 1.9 | Steals | Barbour: 1.6 |
| Hummer: 0.9 | Blocks | Cisco: 0.9 |
| Koon: .553 | FG% (Min: 10 FGM) | Cohen: .667 |
| Bray: .773 | FT% (Min: 10 FTM) | Barbour: .879 |
| Barrett: .529 | 3PT FG% (Min: 10 3PTM) | Frankoski: .487 |
Harvard vs. Brown - 7:00 pm ET - MyRITV
Dartmouth vs. Yale - 7:00 pm ET
Penn vs. Cornell - 7:00 pm ET
Join fellow site members in the forum during the action from Morningside Heights, whether you're in the stands or listening at home. You must be subscribed and logged in to participate.
The Daily Princetonian, the Columbia Spectator, the Cornell Daily Sun and the Ithaca Journal preview this weekend's games.
Oregon State (13-14) fell by 10 to Stanford. After the game Craig Robinson questioned his team's desire.
Robinson's daughter Leslie is a basketball standout and she lists Princeton among the Division I programs recruiting her.
Can you guess what postseason victory came in 46th on College Hoopedia's 75 Greatest Games and Players countdown?
Know! Your! Foe! - Columbia & Cornell updates.
In the opening half of Ivy League play we published seven different Know! Your! Foe! interviews with seven different experts on each Princeton opponent.
What to do for the home stretch of the conference schedule? Each able interview subject has been asked back on board to provide a refresher on how the team they initially talked about has been performed since we last conversed.
After the jump you'll find insight from John Templon of Big Apple Buckets and Brian Delaney in Ithaca.
Both do excellent work updating the play of this weekend's foes.
If you want to read their original takes on these teams, please check out these Columbia and Cornell K!Y!F! posts from January.
Additionally, if you cover a team the Tigers will face down the line, let us know. It would be great to talk with you.
Thursday News:
Stanford vs. Oregon State - 11:00 pm ET - ESPNU
33 points from D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera was the highest scoring output by a Hoya freshman under John Thompson III as Georgetown (20-4) won their eighth straight 90-66 over DePaul. DSR shot 10-12 from the field, 5-6 behind the arc and 8-10 at the line.
Scoring remained an issue for Northwestern (13-14), who went down 69-41 against #19 Wisconsin.
Princeton recruit Amir Bell and East Brunswick advanced to the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament final.
Tomorrow night Columbia must account for the versatility of Ian Hummer.
Sydney Johnson wanted Malcolm Gilbert to play for him at Princeton and will get that chance at Fairfield now that Gilbert has transferred in from Pitt.
For the first time since their four overtime affair, Oregon State plays Stanford.
Looking for something to do on Monday night? Two seed Mercer will host Burlington at 6:00 pm ET in the first round of the Region XIX playoffs.
Coach Mitch Henderson - 2/20/13.
Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon met before practice at Jadwin Gym today to tape the 13th installment of their season-long weekly interview series.
Henderson and Solomon reviewed Princeton's split at Dartmouth and Harvard in great detail before delving into the specifics of this weekend's Empire State trip to Columbia and Cornell.
This exclusive Q&A streaming after the jump is 11:00+ in length. You can catch up on all of the season's discussions here.
Wednesday News:
DePaul vs. Georgetown - 7:00 pm ET - ESPN+
Wisconsin vs. Northwestern - 9:00 pm ET - Big Ten Network
The Daily Princetonian looks at how Harvard beat Princeton.
With four Vikings in double figures, Mercer (19-9) won its rescheduled contest versus Delaware Tech-Stanton 56-53.
Tonight #11 Georgetown hosts DePaul and Northwestern welcomes #19 Wisconsin.
Also, happy birthday to our site photographer Robert Solomon!
Offensive/Defensive efficiency.
5-2 through the front half of Ivy League play, this is a fine stoppage point to look at half-by-half offensive and defensive numbers for these seven conference contests.
A spreadsheet plus some thoughts on this data can be found after the jump.
Tuesday News:
Ian Hummer represents Princeton on the honor roll of the latest Ivy League Men's Basketball Weekly Release.
ESPN ranked Bill Bradley 13th on their list of "the 75 best players in NCAA tournament history based on overall achievement as well as singular excellence."
Princeton recruit Amir Bell was named First Team All-GMC.
Derek Needham's three point shot with five seconds remaining lifted Fairfield (17-11) to a 66-64 comeback victory over Iona.
John Thompson III joined Andy Katz on the ESPNU College Basketball podcast. The interview starts roughly 14:00 into the program.
13-1 in their last 14 games, Denver is playing their best basketball of the season at the right time.
YouTube potpourri XCI.
Here's the latest collection of videos from various corners of the Princeton basketball family. Above, the Harvard video package from Saturday's game.
Seven additional clips of varying lengths and sources can be found after the jump.
Monday News:
Iona vs. Fairfield - 7:00 pm ET - SNY
The Daily Princetonian and the Dartmouth review last weekend's games.
Kareem Maddox put up a double double as Newcastle defeated UCP Marjon Plymouth.
There was no flow in a 62-41 Northwestern (13-13) loss to Illinois.
Fairfield hosts Iona this Presidents' Day.
Sunday News:
Illinois vs. Northwestern - 7:30 pm ET - Big Ten Network
In addition to our recap, read about Princeton's third straight loss at Harvard on goprincetontigers.com, in the Trentonian, in the Boston Globe, in the Boston Herald, in the Harvard Crimson and on gocrimson.com.
Future Tiger Spencer Weisz and Seton Hall Prep advanced to the Essex County Tournament finals versus East Side.
Despite 21 from Henry Caruso, Serra fell in the West Catholic Athletic League finals to Mitty.
Richmond (15-11) topped St. Bonaventure in overtime, 83-80.
Make it six straight for Denver (17-8) with a 62-41 win at San Jose State.
Oregon State (13-13) fell 72-62 at Washington.
At a sold out Welsh-Ryan Arena, Northwestern hosts Illinois as Bill Carmody just keeps plugging away.
Around the Ivy League: Cornell (13-12 / 5-3) won 69-66 at Brown (9-13 / 3-5). Yale (10-15 / 4-4) had an easy 75-56 time versus Columbia (10-12 / 2-6). Penn (6-18 / 3-4) came from down 30-18 midway through at Dartmouth (6-16 / 2-6), outscoring the Big Green 49-27 in the final 20 minutes.
