20 minutes of basketball at home on a Saturday afternoon in front of a sparse crowd versus visiting Buffalo may not have completely revealed who Princeton is quite yet, but it certainly was an eye-opening look at what the Tigers are capable of.
The orange and black built a daunting 18-4 lead after 11 minutes of play on a pair of Brendan Connolly free throws. Playing their best half of the young season, Princeton was able to open up as wide as a 25 point advantage.
In front 37-16 at the break, the Tigers fought their way through long stretches of aggressive, extended pressure 1-3-1 and 2-3 trapping defense from the Bulls and found enough offensive support for Ian Hummer and Douglas Davis to record Mitch Henderson’s first win as a collegiate head coach.
“What we wanted to do right away was go at them and I think we did that nicely,” Henderson said of his team’s assertive performance.
The difference in effort and execution between Saturday’s dismal start to the 2011-12 season versus Wagner and yesterday evening’s game at North Carolina State was significant.
Princeton played the game they wanted to play at a more manageable speed, cutting down on many of their defensive lapses and turnovers.
Unfortunately, the end result was the same when time expired.
DeShawn Painter’s long jumper from just inside the three point line broke a 58-58 tie with four seconds left and ruined this much-improved performance by the Tigers in Raleigh.
Less than half a minute earlier Douglas Davis knotted the score with a three point shot drifting to his right, Davis’ fifth three and the seventh deadlock of the evening.
Princeton was unable to get off a better look than a half court try by Ian Hummer as time ran out.
Davis (21 points) and Hummer (15 points) found offensive support from the rest of their lineup in stretches but Mitch Henderson is still looking for both a third offensive option as well as his first win as a collegiate head coach.
Postgame audio - Coach Mitch Henderson, Will Barrett & Ian Hummer:
There is a lot of work to do, more work than any Princeton player, coach or observer had expected.
Leading 48-44, Wagner outscored the Tigers 16-0 midway through the second half and easily pulled away from an unexpectedly sloppy Princeton team.
Making their 2011-12 debut and playing their first game with Mitch Henderson as head coach, Princeton struggled with Wagner’s three guard ball pressure and committed endless turnovers of both the forced and unforced varieties. The Tigers gave away possession 15 times in the first 20 minutes and had three more gaffes on their first three possessions of the second half. By the final buzzer the turnover total reached a brutal 28.
“We were on defense for almost the entire game,” Henderson said.
Ian Hummer was able to turn 17 shots into a game high 19 points, including his first collegiate three pointer. Douglas Davis took just seven field goals and added 12 in defeat.
For the Seahawks, Tyler Murray led three players in double figures with 15.
Howie Levy had a right to be pessimistic preceding Mercer County Community College's second basketball game of the season. Not the Pete Carril version of over-exagerated for effect pessimism, either.
His legitimate pessimism was grounded in what had transpired the previous afternoon. The Vikings (1-1) had opened 2011-12 with a horrific first half and a beastly initial showing, held to six points in the nascent 20 minutes of what would end as a 61-25 loss to CCRI.
"Guys weren't ready to play. Some guys showed up late for the game," Levy said of a Saturday to forget. "Just a real horrible performance."
Sunday was a completely different story, the sort of tough half court victory that can get a ramshackle lineup to buy in to the type of basketball their coach believes in.
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
