Cameron Indoor pregame panorama.
The view from behind the Princeton bench, 45 minutes before tipoff.
Duke 97 Princeton 60.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Dan Mavraides & Ian Hummer:
On December 31, 1968 Princeton allowed 103 on the scoreboard in a 27 point loss at Madison Square Garden to North Carolina.
It took almost 42 years for another team from the Research Triangle to nearly match that gaudy total.
The Tigers kept it close for 18 minutes against the defending national champions, trailing 34-28 on T.J. Bray's first career three point shot with 1:55 on the clock but from that point onward is was all Blue Devils.
"I was really happy with the effort for the most part on the defensive end in the first half but we were a little bit too careless with the ball," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. ""When you give a great team like this extra opportunities, they shot the lights out."
Shooting 67% from the field and 8-11 from behind the arc in the second half after closing the opening frame on an 8-0 run, Duke built a lead as sizable as 95-55 before Bobby Foley's three pointer at the horn set the final margin.
Dan Mavraides scored 16 and Ian Hummer added 14 for Princeton.
Nolan Smith's 22 led five Duke players in double digits.
The Tigers committed 27 turnovers, the most since last season's terrible Army game. Kareem Maddox had seven of these giveaways.
It was the largest margin of victory for a Princeton opponent since a 79-41 loss to Seton Hall in Joe Scott's final season as the Tigers' head coach.
Sunday News:
Today's Game: Princeton (1-0 / 0-0) vs. Duke (0-0 / 0-0)
Location: Cameron Indoor - Durham, NC
Time: 5:00 pm ET
Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB
TV: ESPNU
Internet: goprincetontigers.com
Series History: Duke leads 17-1.
Last meeting: Duke 83 Princeton 51 - 11/19/07.
| Princeton | Duke | |
| 1-0 | Home Record | 0-0 |
| 0-0 | Away Record | 0-0 |
| 0-0 | Neutral Record | 0-0 |
| 37 | RPI | 146 |
| 181 | Sagarin | 1 |
| 132 | Pomeroy | 1 |
| 78.0 | Points / Game | 77.0 |
| 73.0 | Points Allowed / Game | 61.0 |
| .491 | FG% | .440 |
| .739 | FT% | .759 |
| .409 | 3PT FG% | .385 |
| 36.0 | Rebounds / Game | 39.0 |
| 12.0 | Off. Rebounds / Game | 14.6 |
| +8.0 | Rebounding Margin | +6.2 |
| 17.0 | Assists / Game | 13.7 |
| 16.0 | Turnovers / Game | 11.1 |
| 1.0 | Blocks / Game | 4.1 |
| Mavraides: 26.0 | Points | Singler: 17.7 |
| Connolly: 11.0 | Rebounds | Singler: 7.0 |
| Connolly: 5.0 | Assists | Smith: 3.0 |
| Mavraides: 2.0 | Steals | Smith: 1.2 |
| Hummer: 1.0 | Blocks | Ma. Plumlee: 0.9 |
| Hummer: .800 | FG% (Min: 5 FGM) | Mi. Plumlee: .561 |
| Davis: 1.000 | FT% (Min: 5 FTM) | Singler: .798 |
| Mavraides: .600 | 3PT FG% (Min: 5 3PTM) | Singler: .399 |
Duke team stats are from last season and include returning players only.
UT-Arlington vs. Oregon State - 4:30 pm ET
North Dakota State vs. Denver - 5:30 pm ET - BTI Invitational
Cornell vs. Seton Hall - 12:00 pm ET - SNY / espn3.com
The Trentonian and the Devil's Den preview today's game.
Paul Busse, a Princeton player in 1940 when the Tigers first visited Cameron Indoor, talked with the Trenton Times about his reminiscences.
One Rutgers recap I didn't post yesterday comes via On The Banks.
There were a slew of Princeton prospects at Jadwin on Friday night. NJ Hoops has a list. I believe there are also a few others missing from this rundown.
Mercer (1-2) lost 77-62 at Cecil. Gary Carthan had 18 in the loss.
Oregon outscored Denver (0-2) by a 18-5 margin in the final eight minutes of a 68-56 Ducks victory.
Oregon State hosts UT-Arlington today.
Yale's second-leading scorer from last season, Michael Sands is no longer with the team and has withdrawn from school.
Around the Ivy League: Sans Sands, Yale (0-1) fell 84-75 to Quinnipiac at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Despite 22 points and 16 rebounds from Keith Wright, Harvard (0-1) lost by 13 at George Mason. Penn (1-0) topped Davidson at the Palestra, 69-64. Dartmouth (0-1) was no match for Providence, falling 87-52.
Kareem Maddox, #omgRLUdunx.
Kareem Maddox makes it 10-2 Tigers with the first of his two first half dunks.
Hypnotic animated .gif created with Gickr using three Stephen Goldsmith photos.
Hashtag from our friends at Mid-Majority.
The last four games against Duke.
Because the historical pieces Eleven years of season openers and Rutgers in the 2000s were both so well-received, here's a lengthy look at Princeton's last four games against Duke.
All but the 2007 meeting took place in Durham at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Tigers have an 1-17 all-time record against the Blue Devils, 0-9 on the road and 0-6 at neutral sites.
Two stats to gag on before Sunday's tipoff: Princeton is a horrid 17.2% from three point range in their last three games at Cameron (10-58) and a hideous 3-35 from behind the arc in their last two visits (8.6%).
Enjoy these archived recaps while Stephen Goldsmith and I drive south to North Carolina.
November 14, 2000 - Duke 87 Princeton 50 - Preseason NIT
This was John Thompson III's first game as head coach. The Tigers hung with second-ranked Duke for half a half, trailing 25-20, but the Blue Devils closed on a 21-3 run as Princeton committed 14 turnovers. Shane Battier hit nine of 12 three point shots and the rout was on. Mike Bechtold's 12 points paced Princeton. Here's what I wrote at the time:
Our seats were three rows behind the Tiger bench, surrounded by Duke students. Our seats had the word "guests" etched into the wood, and the row behind us had the word "buffer" etched into each bleacher seat, with stadium security asking students not to sit in these seats.
Princeton was warming up while we found our seats. Nate Walton was in uniform and moving fairly well for a guy last seen on crutches. It was only after Princeton had been taking layups for a few minutes that I noticed Chris Krug was missing. At halftime, when I called my dad looking for news on Krug, I learned Chris had missed the trip down with a virus.
Princeton started Walton at Center. C.J. Chapman and Ed Persia at Guard and Eugene Baah & Mike Bechtold at Forward. Persia picked up two fouls in the first two minutes and was replaced by Kyle Wente. The first thirteen minutes of the game were impressive. Princeton was well composed, found good shots and worked well against the press. Walton missed two backdoor layups, but the Tigers were moving without the ball, cutting hard and doing little things right. Princeton was down 25-20 with 7:37 in the first half. Thompson made some good decisions, including a length of the court "home run" pass to Kyle Wente off of an inbound pass that lead to an easy layup. El-Nokali, in street clothes, was acting as another assistant coach, advising C.J. during timeouts.
Duke turned up their defense, and Princeton made some poor passes which led to easy Duke baskets. Duke outscored Princeton 21-3 to finish the half and it was 46-23 at the break. Terence Rozier-Byrd played center with Walton moving to forward to finish the first half. Princeton shot 9-16 (56.3%) in the first half but turned the ball over 14 times. Duke shot 57%.
To start the second half, Duke hit five straight [!] three pointers. Walton came out to rest his ankle and Thompson went with five guards for a stretch, with Wente and Persia in at the same time. Logan, Wysocki and Hegseth all saw time in the second half. The final score may indicate "blowout" but Princeton kept fighting and played forty hard minutes. For a team playing the cards they have left in the deck, they do some nice things and I think this team can only get better.
Additional observations:
-Ed Persia has a good deal of Mitch Henderson in him. Threw his body all over the court hustling. Played tough and emotional but not out- of-control.
-Either everyone has gotten shorter or Mike Bechtold has grown an inch or two in the last year. Bechtold had a few nice blocked shots and I thought he played the best defense of any Tiger tonight.
-Name a better college player than Shane Battier. Wow.
-Duke has so many assistant coaches in suits they look like a legal defense team when they walk into the gym.
-Heard JTIII on Duke radio while leaving the parking lot. Thompson talked about how Princeton was a better team than they showed tonight and how they have to get better. I know I look forward to the Monmouth game and how the team can develop in the next eleven days.
Saturday News:
MCCC vs. Cecil C.C. - 3:00 pm ET
Denver vs. Oregon - 11:30 pm ET - BTI Invitational
Harvard vs. George Mason - 4:00 pm ET
Davidson vs. Penn - 7:00 pm ET
Dartmouth vs. Providence - 7:00 pm ET
Yale vs. Quinnipiac - 8:00 pm ET - Connecticut 6 Classic
Tons of stories about last night's season opener available. Read about the game on goprincetontigers.com, in the Trentonian, in the Star Ledger, in the Asbury Park Press, in the Epoch Times, on Scarlet Nation, on Hoops Haven and on scarletknights.com.
Behind 54 points from their three starting guards, Georgetown (1-0) closed on a 21-10 run to beat Old Dominion by three.
Hoya freshman Moses Ayegba was suspended by the NCAA for the first nine games of the season.
It was an easier opener for Richmond (1-0), who rolled The Citadel by a 79-37 final.
John Shurna tied his career high with 31 points as Northwestern (1-0) used a big second half to defeat Northern Illinois, 97-78.
Tied at 37, UC Santa Barbara pulled away from Denver (0-1) in the second half of their BTI Invitational pairing.
The Schuylkill 16 is back for a third season! Princeton is voted the region's sixth-best team in the first poll.
Around the Ivy League: Cornell (1-0) defeated Albany 65-61 in head coach Bill Courteny's first game. Columbia (0-1) played well but faded late at La Salle. Brown (1-0) opened their year with a 69-65 win at Fordham.
Princeton 78 Rutgers 73 (OT).
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Dan Mavraides & Ian Hummer:
If tonight's opener for the 2010-11 Princeton basketball season is a microcosm of what is to come over the next 29 games, it is going to be a wild ride.
There were so many ups and downs, questions raised and questions answered alongside near-simultaneous thrills and frustrations that the game between Rutgers and Princeton at Jadwin Gym needed five extra minutes after regulation concluded to try and fit them all in.
The Tigers raced to a 14 point first half lead, matched last season's point total against the Scarlet Knights by the break (44) but were eventually passed by Rutgers with less than seven minutes to go as the Scarlet Knights extended their defense on the wings before rallying to force overtime and holding on for the five point victory with 8-8 OT shooting at the free throw line.
It was as exhausting as the above run-on sentence implies.
"I thought that there was a lot of guts there," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. "I was pleasantly surprised."
Drama and pathos aside, the end result was the Tigers' first victory over a "Big Six" school since 2004.
Led by a career high 26 points and seven rebounds from senior guard Dan Mavraides and 17 points on 8-10 shooting from Ian Hummer, the Tigers won their curtain raiser for the third time in four seasons under Sydney Johnson.
While Mavraides' six three pointers were appreciated by his coach, other elements stood out. "I think Dan brings a lot more than shooting to our team," remarked Johnson. "Obviously when he shoots and the ball goes in it makes things that much easier. My challenge to him is: "What if your shot is not going down? Can you lead us?' I felt like there were hustle plays there, there was leadership there that doesn't show up in the box score and I want to see that every night."
James Beatty had 15 for Rutgers, one of four Scarlet Knights in double digits.
Princeton's 78 points were the most by a Tiger team against Rutgers since a 79-70 decision in 1995.
PAW season preview.
I wrote a short piece for the latest Princeton Alumni Weekly previewing Princeton's prospects for this about-to-tip season. Enjoy! - JS
Men's basketball banks on experience
By Jon Solomon
Princeton men's basketball is prepared to take aim at an Ivy League title, returning its five top scorers from a team that won 22 games and finished second in the league behind Cornell for the second straight year. With the Big Red graduating five starters from a team that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16, a versatile Tiger squad could climb to the top of the Ivies for the first time since 2004.
Friday News:
Today's Game: Rutgers (0-0 / 0-0) vs. Princeton (0-0 / 0-0)
Location: Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ
Time: 7:00 pm ET
Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB
TV: N/A
Internet: goprincetontigers.com
Series History: Princeton leads 72-44.
Last meeting: Rutgers 58 Princeton 44 - 12/3/09.
| Rutgers | Princeton | |
| 0-0 | Home Record | 0-0 |
| 0-0 | Away Record | 0-0 |
| 0-0 | Neutral Record | 0-0 |
| 170 | RPI | 98 |
| 150 | Sagarin | 181 |
| 149 | Pomeroy | 138 |
| 67.5 | Points / Game | 60.4 |
| 71.7 | Points Allowed / Game | 53.3 |
| .424 | FG% | .441 |
| .666 | FT% | .718 |
| .332 | 3PT FG% | .359 |
| 35.8 | Rebounds / Game | 30.6 |
| 11.9 | Off. Rebounds / Game | 8.9 |
| -3.0 | Rebounding Margin | +1.1 |
| 13.7 | Assists / Game | 11.7 |
| 14.6 | Turnovers / Game | 13.1 |
| 7.1 | Blocks / Game | 3.3 |
| Mitchell: 11.8 | Points | Davis: 12.7 |
| Mitchell: 6.1 | Rebounds | Mavriades: 4.3 |
| Coburn: 3.3 | Assists | Mavraides: 1.4 |
| Miller: 1.0 | Steals | Mavriades: 1.2 |
| Miller: 1.1 | Blocks | Maddox: 0.9 |
| Johnson: .519 | FG% (Min: 10 FGM) | Connolly: .571 |
| Mitchell: .894 | FT% (Min: 10 FTM) | Saunders: .947 |
| Coburn: .367 | 3PT FG% (Min: 10 3PTM) | Davis: .428 |
Team stats are from last season.
Player stats include returning players only.
Georgetown vs. Old Dominion - 7:00 pm ET - Comcast SportsNet Plus
The Citadel vs. Richmond - 7:00 pm ET
Denver vs. UC Santa Barbara - 7:30 pm ET - BTI Invitational
Northwestern vs. Northern Illinois - 9:00 pm ET - bigtennetwork.com
Columbia vs. La Salle - 7:00 pm ET
Cornell vs. Albany - 7:30 pm ET
Brown vs. Fordham - 8:00 pm ET
Previews of tonight's game can be found in the Trentonian, the Star Ledger, the Princeton Packet and the Daily Princetonian.
I don't think any of these pieces have correctly guessed the Tigers' starting lineup.
The 14-Game Tournament has great analysis as to why Princeton will trump Harvard for this season's Ivy crown.
The Home News Tribune says this could be the last season for Rutgers/Princeton. Didn't they run the same article last year? There's also a game preview and three keys to victory as part of their coverage.
Former Princeton guard Pete Hegseth wrote an essay for Veteran's Day.
The Washington Post discusses how a guard-heavy Georgetown squad means the Hoyas are no longer "Big Man U."
One of the toughest non-conference schedules in Division I starts with a season-opening trip to Old Dominion for Georgetown.
Floor general Michael "Juice" Thompson and Northwestern begin on the road at Northern Illinois.
Richmond hosts The Citadel.
UC Santa Barbara and Denver open up day one of the BTI Invitational in Eugene, Oregon.
Mason Rocca scored three points off the bench as A.J. Milano won a Group D Euroleague match against Power Electronics Valencia.
Coach Sydney Johnson - 11/11/10.
Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon sat down in the Princeton men's basketball Halftime Room at Jadwin Gym on Thursday morning for a wide-ranging conversation in advance of the season opener against Rutgers and this Sunday's trip to Duke.
A few of the topics discussed include: The progress Princeton has made since Media Day, filling the void left by the graduations of Zach Finley and Pawel Buczak, the decision to honor Marvin Bressler with a patch on the new uniforms, how the coaching staff plans to fill the "point guard" position on offense and if there's a player on this year's roster Johnson would have enjoyed playing with.
The unexpectedly lengthy interview includes many listener-submitted questions and is 28:00+ in length.
Interviews with Coach Johnson will appear on this site every week during the 2010-11 season.
