Princeton scored on 10 of their opening 11 first half possessions, shot 56.3% as a team on the night and were never legitimately challenged by Dartmouth after an even 10 minutes in Hanover.
Tied at 19 following a three point shot by Malik Gill, the Tigers went on a swift 15-3 run and made it to halftime up by 14.
To start the second half the Tigers again were exceptionally potent across the board with the ball, converting on five of their initial six times up the floor concluding with a Hans Brase two-hand slam that provided the visitors a 53-33 margin.
There was no subsequent drama. The lead from this point would not drop under 15 and extended as high as 25.
“I think it started off just with us taking care of the ball offensively. In the second half I think we showed the picture a little bit better defensively,” said Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson.
Four Tiger starters hit double figures, led by Denton Koon with 18 points. Ian Hummer had 14 plus a 6:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, Brase totaled 12 and Will Barrett 11.
T.J. Bray missed out on joining his fellow starters by a digit but did add six assists.
The one Big Green player the Tigers could not stop was Gabas Maldunas who scored 16 inside.
The rest of this recap plus postgame audio from Coach Mitch Henderson & Denton Koon can be found after the jump.
Yale can't get back up to New Haven tonight due to the blizzard but after recording their first road sweep at Penn and Princeton since the 1986-87 season it seems unlikely the Bulldogs are complaining.
A 21 game conference winning streak at Jadwin Gym came to an end on Saturday night as the Tigers fought endlessly uphill against incredible Yale shooting (65% for the first half), a pressing and trapping zone defense (which led to 16 miscues by the orange and black), foul trouble (two personals each for T.J. Bray, Will Barrett and Hans Brase before intermission) in addition to several dubious officiating calls (I'm sure there will be plenty to said about these in the comments) and timely Bulldog baskets once Princeton crept close.
While the Tigers were able to overcome an eight point deficit at the break, each time Princeton pulled even or inched slightly ahead, back came Yale with an enormous response on the very next possession.
“Yale got us on our heels and we never had a counter-punch,” said a disappointed Tiger head coach Mitch Henderson.
Still the game went down to the final seconds. Nick Victor missed a pair of free throws after Barrett connected on his third trey of the contest and Princeton had the ball down two. Unable to get driving angles to the basket or a clean perimeter look, Bray entered the arc and saw his difficult feed to Brase bound directly to Yale's Matt Townsend.
Austin Morgan - a 90%+ free throw shooter this season - iced the result with a pair from the line with just over three seconds remaining.
It was the Bulldogs' first win at Princeton since 2008 and the Tigers' first home loss since falling 57-54 to Brown in February of 2010.
Denton Koon led three Princeton players in double figures with 16. A frustrated Ian Hummer played all 40 minutes and totaled 14 but had seven turnovers. Barrett added 11.
Yale was paced by Javier Duren's 13, 11 from Sam Martin including a trio of threes and 11 by Morgan, who also connected thrice behind the arc.
The rest of this recap plus postgame audio from Coach Mitch Henderson & Ian Hummer can be found after the jump.
Princeton held Brown without a field goal for a 10:24 stretch of the first half, a 13-1 run turning a tie game into what would remain a comfortable Tiger advantage.
Hans Brase or Brendan Connolly bothering Bears big man Rafael Maia into 1-7 shooting - including a number of off-kilter attempts - allowed Princeton's other four players on the floor to focus on locking the arc.
All eight of Brown's first half field goals were layups, five in the first six minutes and two in the final :45 seconds.
In between there was plenty of Ian Hummer.
Hummer - who scored 11 in the opening 20 minutes - had seven straight as the Tigers assembled a lead they would only build upon. Hummer finished with 15 points as Denton Koon recorded 17 including 3-3 shooting from three point range and T.J. Bray added 14 (6-7 from the field).
“Having Brendan playing as well as he is defensively, it really gives us confidence to guard hard on the perimeter,” said Hummer. “If they go by us we know we have great help inside.”
Maia totaled 17 of his 19 in the second half but Brown was 1-12 outside the arc overall with their only connection coming in the game's final 30 seconds. No other Brown player had more than eight.
The 12 point differential at the break extended to 22 on a pair of occasions and never dipped to single digits as the visiting Bears converted 38.0% of their tries for the game.
Princeton by comparison shot 54.8% including 8-13 as a team from behind the arc.
The rest of this recap plus postgame audio from Coach Mitch Henderson & Ian Hummer can be found after the jump.
Back in December during a conversation about the decision to insert freshman forward Hans Brase in the starting lineup, replacing a team captain in the process, Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson said something prescient.
“Brendan Connolly is still going to win a game or two for us in the Ivy League.”
On a Saturday night in February with the Tigers’ defense getting knifed apart by the repeated dribble penetration of Columbia’s guards, Connolly was the second half difference-maker at both ends of the floor.
Knotted at 52 with 8:51 remaining, the difference wasn't fellow senior Ian Hummer's 12-14 free throw shooting or T.J. Bray's game-high 17 points and 3-3 marksmanship from downtown including a big jumper with the shot clock expiring.
The difference was a player who saw the floor only in the final 55 seconds of the previous evening's well-decided contest.
The difference was Brendan Connolly.
The senior center replaced the freshman Brase and with a burst of unexpected speed went around Cory Osetkowski for a reverse layup. Connolly also helped sure up the defense inside in a way Brase was unable, altering at least two drives and providing an immovable object for the Lions to try and knife past.
With the lead at three after a Mark Cisco left baseline jumper, Connolly glided to his right and tossed in a gorgeous hook shot on the run over Cisco from the center of the lane which provided needed distance in the final two minutes.
“When given the opportunity, he came through for us big tonight,” Henderson said of Connolly’s critical contributions. “I thought he did a really nice job changing the tone.”
The Tigers would make four of five free throws to keep Columbia at bay.
Princeton shot over 50% from the floor for the second straight night (23-45) and went 8-11 from three point range after starting an incredible 7-7. Also of importance: The Tigers attempted more than 20 free throws for the third consecutive contest.
Freshman Maodo Lo had some of the finest slashes for Columbia and he led his team with 16 points, Cisco adding 11.
The rest of this recap plus postgame audio from Coach Mitch Henderson, Brendan Connolly & T.J. Bray can be found after the jump.
Ian Hummer was sensational in the first half, leading Princeton back from down nine with 11:44 to go as he recorded six of the Tigers' final seven field goals before intermission and assisted on the other.
Hummer (7-8 from the floor for 18 points in 19 minutes of court time) got his team to the break +5 before deferring to teammates Denton Koon and Will Barrett in the second stanza. A seven point Princeton lead down to 41-40, Koon scored six of the Tigers' 15 in a row before Barrett added his first of three dunks on a steal and a breakaway.
Barrett was 4-4 from the floor over the final 20 minutes.
Princeton hit 16-24 (66.7%) field goals as they built an evening-high 21 point lead, before missing their last two attempts of the night with the result no longer an issue.
In a contest where Cornell's strength (repeated waves of 6'2" and 6'3" players swarming the floor) butted up against the Tigers' advantages (size and strength inside), Koon was able to shoot over Big Red guards repeatedly, converting 6-7 vesper opportunities.
Hummer and Koon each tallied 22, the total a career high for the sophomore. Hummer moved to within four points of assistant coach Brian Earl for sixth all-time in scoring at Princeton.
“[Denton] really stepped up when they were focusing more on me in the second half,” Hummer said following his team’s 19th straight conference victory at home. “He’s able to get underneath the basket and get behind the defense, which makes it really easy for guys to pass it to him. The fact that he’s able to finish in traffic with a couple guys’ hands in his face is very important for us.”
The rest of this recap and postgame audio from Coach Mitch Henderson, Ian Hummer & Denton Koon can be found after the jump.
Mercer County Community College pushed the start of Tuesday night's game against Manor back an hour so head coach Howie Levy could go see his son Lior suit up for Princeton High School versus Notre Dame. Levy then rushed across the county to suffer a different class of agony than the pain created by helplessly watching your child play a sport. Switching from the stands to the sidelines, Levy saw his MCCC squad fall behind early in the first half after taking an immediate 5-0 lead and struggle to catch the visiting Blue Jays.
Knowing that Mercer had raced past Manor on the road 99-80 a month previous, it was difficult to witness the Vikings struggle against a rangy, lateral zone. Center Filip Sekulic was unable to get many touches moving from block to block behind the defense and 5'4" guard Larry Webster's constant raining of three point shots off the bench from in front of the zone routinely landed short.
Sunday was an island between two distinct epochs, a two week exam period without a game behind it and a run of 13 contests in 40 days that will decide this year’s Ivy League title immediately in front of it.
Princeton did not shoot the ball particularly well in their return to action but had enough size at both ends and got to the line frequently enough to dispatch The College of New Jersey without incident or, perhaps more importantly, injury.
Tiger starters scored the game's first nine points and following TCNJ’s brief halving of a double digit deficit to five versus an early lineup heavy on reserves, returned to the floor to promptly convert back-to-back three point shots and build an 11 point advantage that would only increase for the remaining 28:32 of the afternoon.
Outrebounding an undersized foe 29-17 in the first half, with freshman Hans Brase grabbing 11 of those boards, Princeton extended a 39-17 halftime lead as most of their work was done at the foul line, where the Tigers shot 14-18.
The final buzzer could not come quickly enough after intermission as Denton Koon (12 points in 22 minutes) and Brase (11 points and 15 rebounds in 26 minutes) remained on the floor to anchor the rotation. The lead went from 20 to 30 to 40 as the visiting Lions suffered through a near-10 minute stretch wherein they recorded just a single field goal.
Clay Wilson played a team-high 28 minutes, 2-10 from three point range as his 0-10 marksmanship behind the arc the prior four games finally found the target.
All 13 Princeton players in uniform saw at least six minutes of action. The Tigers were 21-58 (36.2%) as a unit but 22-29 at the line (75.9%) with a ridiculous 60-30 edge on the glass boosted by 21 offensive rebounds.
Emmanuel Matlock and Ryan Keegan each had 10 for TCNJ, which went 0-14 from three on the day.
A full recap plus postgame audio from Coach Mitch Henderson, Denton Koon & Hans Brase can be found after the jump.
Those are the only three senior classes in Princeton basketball history to sweep four games from Penn at Jadwin Gym. Ian Hummer, Brendan Connolly and Mack Darrow added their names to an exclusive list this evening after the Tigers' 65-53 victory over the Quakers.
It was a game Princeton led the final 36:20 of, answering Greg Louis' three point shot with nine straight out the gate and turning a 31-22 halftime advantage into a comfortable margin behind 11 in a row after intermission.
In both runs junior guard T.J. Bray knocked down a three pointer. Bray hit six times from behind the arc in 11 tries, recording a career high 23 points plus three rebounds and no turnovers.
“It was just one of those days where shots are falling down,” said Bray. “They were coming in the flow of the offense, which was big. Ian had a couple nice passes to me and I was able to just step in and shoot.”
Hummer scored 13 and fellow senior Darrow added eight off the bench plus five assists and no miscues in a point-center role.
Tony Hicks slashed his way to 16 for Penn on 18 shots, 13 of the freshman's tallies coming in the second half. The Quakers scored the game's final seven points after the result was no longer in question.
Postgame audio from Coach Mitch Henderson, Ian Hummer & T.J. Bray plus the rest of this recap can all be found after the jump.
There was a long list of things to like coming out of Princeton's wire-to-wire 10 point win at Elon on Saturday afternoon.
Whether it was Ian Hummer matching his career high of 28 points on 10-16 shooting, Will Barrett's five straight three pointers in the first half or T.J. Bray's dozen turned in entirely after intermission, several of the positives were individual.
But there was also 15 offensive rebounds and a 36-25 overall advantage on the glass for the Tigers, not to mention just three turnovers in the final 20 minutes as the Phoenix attempted to come from 16 down with 8:40 remaining following Hummer's dunk up and over the face of Elon leading scorer Lucas Troutman.
Perhaps the nicest thing on a day with limited complaints was how Princeton handled themselves when Troutman drew his team within seven.
Scoring on their last six possessions beginning with a driving Mack Darrow setting up Denton Koon for a two hand dunk, the Tigers never allowed their hosts a chance to administer additional pressure as the orange and black went 7-8 at the line to boost their chances into the waning seconds.
"I liked the calmness," recognized Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson. "There's a calmness now, which is the kind of progress we needed."
Troutman scored 14 on 13 field goal attempts but also had a 0:5 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Postgame audio from Coach Mitch Henderson, Will Barrett & Ian Hummer plus the rest of this recap can be found after the jump.
7'0" center Zeke Marshall was a perfect seven-for-seven from the floor including a 16' jump hook from outside his comfort zone to beat the shot clock buzzer with 1:35 left in regulation that inched his team up three as Akron closed on a 7-2 run to trip Princeton and stay unblemished at the James A. Rhodes Arena.
In a second half that saw the Zips lead by as many as six and Princeton fight back to take a 56-55 edge on a Hans Brase step-in jumper with 3:33 showing, the Tigers could not get the singular play that might have altered the result.
“The story of the night really was we could not stop them inside, which was disappointing because I think that’s going to be a strength of ours,” said head coach Mitch Henderson about a game where Akron got 48 of their points in the lane. “With a minute left we can’t do what we did tonight putting them on the line without giving ourselves an opportunity to win the game.”
An off-balance tying try from Clay Wilson behind an Ian Hummer screen caught part of the rim but did not come particularly close with three seconds remaining and a Marshall free throw provided the final margin.
Denton Koon was the recipient of myriad Hummer feeds on his way to 16 points. Hummer had 13 on 5-13 shooting, nine rebounds, seven dimes and six turnovers.
Hans Brase reached double digits in his third consecutive start, adding 10.
Marshall's 17 were complimented by 16 for the Zips' Nick Harney.
Postgame audio from Mitch Henderson and the rest of this recap can be found after the jump.
Christmas came a few days early for Ian Hummer, who got what he wanted since the very start of the season - a full 40 minute performance for his team.
All five Princeton starters scored in double figures as the Tigers knocked off Bucknell at Jadwin Gym.
It took an effort from the top to the bottom of the rotation to best a squad who came in with an 11-1 record and were firmly in the Top 50 of all reputable rankings.
Princeton scored on seven straight second half possessions - including four three pointers - to turn a four point edge into a 62-47 advantage with 5:57 remaining.
To close out the game the Tigers made 13 straight at the line before Brendan Connolly's miss was accidentally tipped in by Hans Brase and a battling Bucknell defender.
Hummer had 17 points, Denton Koon matched him with a career high, Brase followed up a sensational first start with 14 despite serious foul trouble, T.J. Bray added 11 plus eight assists versus zero turnovers and Mack Darrow starting in place of the injured Will Barrett totaled 10.
Mike Muscala's 17 points and 11 rebounds paced the Bison in defeat but his touches were severely limited.
A full recap plus postgame audio from Mitch Henderson, Denton Koon & Ian Hummer can be found after the jump.
Mitch Henderson couldn't remember if he had talked to freshman forward Hans Brase during the latter's recruitment about the possibility of playing center at Princeton.
After Brase's performance 10 games into his career replacing veteran big man Brendan Connolly in the lineup it is hard to imagine him anywhere else.
With a 3-6 record buoyed by a trio of dissipated second half leads, Princeton badly needed some sort of spark and they found one - at least for an evening - in the form of Brase.
Making his first collegiate start Brase had a career high 17 points on 7-9 shooting as the Tigers steadily pulled away from Rider for a 62-45 victory.
"He hasn't gotten many reps - I'll say that," Henderson remarked about his young center. "He's just a player and he's capable of doing a lot of things."
Consider Brase's open to the contest - two free throws, an assist on a Will Barrett three pointer, a charge taken, a second assist resulting in an Ian Hummer jumper and a curling layup - all before the first media time out.
Up 11 with nine minutes to go Princeton scored nine straight to lock down the victory as Brase added a pair of layups while taking a second charge in-between.
"I'm trying to do whatever the team needs," Brase said quietly after his efficient and exciting night was done. "If I need to play center, I'll play center."
While the Tigers committed 14 turnovers they far were more aggressive against the Broncs' pressure than they had been versus similar opponents in 2012-13, which helped create a number of layups and dunks. Princeton had almost as many points in the paint (44) as Rider totaled overall (45).
Not to be overlooked in Brase's breakout was 15 tallies for Hummer along with seven rebounds and five assists against one turnover and sophomore Denton Koon's career high 15.
Anthony Myles' 18 paced Rider in defeat. The Broncs led for just a single first half possession.
A complete recap plus postgame audio from Henderson, Brase & Koon can be found after the jump.
princetonbasketball.com was founded on April 28th, 1998 in an attempt to provide fans of the Princeton Tigers and Ivy League basketball with the best on-line source for up-to-date news and information. We have since expanded to launch a companion site, Georgetown Basketball News.
As these sites have continued to grow we have increased our coverage to include additional teams with Princeton connections - the Richmond Spiders, Denver Pioneers, Oregon State Beavers, Fairfield Stags and Mercer County Community College Vikings - plus former Tigers playing professional baseball and basketball all over the world. This site is not directly affiliated with the Friends of Princeton Basketball, Princeton University or the Princeton athletic department.
Sun. 11/10 vs. Florida A&M
Sat. 11/16 at Butler
Wed. 11/20 vs. Lafayette
Sat. 11/23 at Rice
Tue. 11/26 vs. George Mason
Sat. 11/30 at Bucknell
Sat. 12/7 vs. FDU
Wed. 12/11 at Rutgers
Sat. 12/14 at Penn State
Fri. 12/20 vs. Portland*
Sat. 12/21 vs. Pacific*
Tue. 12/31 vs. Kent State
Sat. 1/4 at Liberty
Sat. 1/11 at Penn
Sun. 1/26 vs. Kean
Fri. 1/31 at Harvard
Sat. 2/1 at Dartmouth
Fri. 2/7 vs. Columbia
Sat. 2/8 vs. Cornell
Fri. 2/14 at Brown
Sat. 2/15 at Yale
Fri. 2/21 vs. Dartmouth
Sat. 2/22 vs. Harvard
Fri. 2/28 vs. Yale
Sat. 3/1 vs. Brown
Fri. 3/7 at Cornell
Sat. 3/8 at Columbia
Tue. 3/11 vs. Penn
2,503 - B. Bradley, 1962-65
1,625 - I. Hummer, 2009-13
1,550 - D. Davis, 2008-12
1,546 - K. Mueller, 1987-91
1,451 - P. Campbell, 1959-62
1,441 - C. Robinson, 1979-83
1,428 - B. Earl, 1995-99
1,365 - B. Scrabis, 1985-89
1,321 - G. Petrie, 1967-70
1,292 - H. Haabestad, 1952-55
1,277 - G. Lewullis, 1995-99
1,239 - B. Taylor, 1970-72
1,207 - S. Goodrich 1994-98
1,133 - F. Sowinski, 1975-78
1,130 - R. Hielscher, 1991-95
1,122 - C. Thomforde, 1966-69
1,099 - T. Manakas, 1970-73
1,090 - J. Wallace, 2001-05
1,088 - C. Belz, 1956-59
1,079 - B. Hauptfuhrer, 1973-76
1,076 - B. Roma, 1976-79
1,071 - C. Mooney, 1990-94
1,064 - A. Hyland, Jr., 1960-63
1,062 - L. Brangan, 1957-60
1,057 - A. Hill, 1973-76
1,054 - D. Mavraides, 2007-11
1,044 - S. Johnson, 1993-1997
1,031 - J. Hummer, 1967-70
1,010 - W. Venable, 2001-05
