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Princeton (13-10, 4-3 Ivy) vs. Columbia (14-10, 3-5 Ivy)
Streak: Princeton 5 overall, 18 home
Streak: Cornell 1 overall, Princeton 1 home
Last weekend's games: at Princeton 59, Dartmouth 47 (2/10/12) | at Princeton 70, Harvard 62 (2/11/12)
Against Columbia and Cornell 2011-12: at Cornell 67, Princeton 59 (1/13/12) | Princeton 62, at Columbia 58 (1/14/12)
Princeton stats: 2011-12 Stats | Columbia Stats: 2011-12 Stats | Cornell Stats: 2011-12 Stats
Individual 2011-12 game-by-game: 3 Sherburne | 4 Koon | 5 Bray | 11 Fabrizius | 12 Hazel | 14 Clement | 15 Comfort | 20 Davis | 22 Saunders | 23 Wilson | 25 Noonan | 32 Darrow | 34 Hummer | 40 Garbade | 41 Edwards | 44 Connolly
Individual career stats can be found on each player's roster page.
Columbia links: Columbia men's basketball page | Columbia notes
Cornell links: Cornell men's basketball page | Cornell notes
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So far this season:
Last time out, Princeton won its first home game over an AP-ranked team since Jan. 3, 1977 against No. 2 Notre Dame when the Tigers took care of No. 25 Harvard 70-62. It was Princeton's first home game against an AP-ranked team since Dec. 12, 2001 against No. 4 Kansas.
Princeton swept an Ivy League weekend for the first time this season when it beat Dartmouth and Harvard last weekend. The Tigers swept four of their six Ivy League weekends last season and still have the chance to match that total this season.
Princeton has dialed back its 3-point tries over the Ivy League schedule, trying more than 20 just twice in the last six games. Over the season's first 17 games, including the Ivy opener against Cornell, Princeton tried fewer than 20 3s just six times.
Princeton's 11 3-point tries against the Crimson were its lowest since also trying 11 against another Boston-based team, Northeastern, on Dec. 18. Princeton tried eight threes in a loss to Elon on Nov. 22, a season-low.
Ian Hummer passed milestone point totals on each of the last two Saturday nights, reaching the 1,000-point mark at Yale two weekends ago and passing his uncle John Hummer '70 against harvard to stand with 1,039 career points as the highest scoring member of the three Hummers to play at Princeton along with his father Ed Hummer '67.
With Dan Mavraides '11 and Douglas Davis doing so last year, Princeton had three players reach the 1,000-point mark over the course of two seasons after having no players reach 1,000 since the 2004-05 season.
From an Ivy-season low of .333 at Yale two weekends ago, Princeton increased its shooting percentage in each of the next two games, becoming the first Ivy League team to shoot 50 percent (25-50) against Harvard this season.
Princeton had its largest free throw disparity in its favor of the season against the Crimson, going to the line 24 times (making 17) while Harvard was 7 of 11 from the stripe. It was the second time this season that Princeton made more FTs than its foe attempted, as the Tigers also did so in a win over Northeastern on Dec. 18.
Princeton is 8-1 this season when it gets to the free throw line more than its opponent, with the lone loss coming by one point to Elon on Nov. 22.
Princeton drew the second-most fouls of the season for a Harvard opponent, second only to the 23 whistles the Crimson endured in its win over Central Florida in the Thanksgiving-weekend Battle 4 Atlantis championship.
Princeton's 48 points in the second half against Harvard were its most of the season for the second half and represented only the third time the Tigers have scored more than 40 points after the break (41, Northeastern, Dec. 18; 43, Lafayette, Nov. 30).
Princeton has shot 50 percent or better from the field this season seven times, all in the last 16 games. Over that span, the Tigers have shot below 40 percent only four times.
Hummer is on pace to stand second in career scoring and career field goals in program history, behind only Bill Bradley '65, when his college career is complete next season. Bradley performed his feats in just three seasons and was a teammate of Ian Hummer's father Ed Hummer '67 for one varsity season, the run to the NCAA national semifinal in 1965. Hummer is on pace to end this season 13th on the Princeton career scoring list.
Winning an Ivy League title after starting 2-3 may not be an advantageous position, but it is not unprecendented. Penn's 2002 team finished 11-3 after starting 2-3 and emerged from a three-way Ivy League playoff to make the NCAA Tournament.
At the same point of that 2002 season, Yale was playing the role that Harvard is now, the leader at 7-1. Penn and Princeton were playing the opposite roles as today, Penn at 4-3 and Princeton at 5-2. The catalyst weekend came at the same point in the schedule as next weekend, when Yale lost to both Princeton and Penn. If the same scenario is to play out in 2012, Penn and Princeton will have to do the sweeping on the road this time. Harvard was 5-3 in that season at that point before fading to a 7-7 finish, and Brown, the league's No. 2 preseason pick behind the Tigers, was 4-4 on the way to 8-6.
Princeton is 2-8 when it doesn't reach 60 points this season and 11-2 when it scores 60 points. On the defensive end, Princeton is 6-2 when it allows fewer than 60 points and 7-8 when it allows 60 or more.
Princeton is 10-3 this season when it shoots 40 percent or better from the field and 3-7 when it doesn't shoot at least 40 percent.
Princeton is 10-4 this season when it shoots 30 percent or better from 3-point range and 3-6 when it shoots below 30 percent from distance.
Princeton is 1-6 this season when allowing 45 percent or better from the field and 12-4 when holding foes below 45 percent.
Princeton has won the rebounding battle in just four of the last 15 games but is 10-5 over that span. Over the first eight games, Princeton won the rebounding battle five times but was just 3-5 over that span.
The Tigers are 8-5 this season when they hoist 20 or more 3s and 5-5 when they put up fewer than 20.
In the 19 Princeton games this season in which at least one team has reached 60 points, the first team to reach 60 is 17-2, with the two exceptions both being OT games. Rider reached 60 first in its 72-71 OT loss to the Tigers on Dec. 14, and FSU reached 60 first in its 75-73 3OT loss to Princeton on Dec. 30.
Princeton has out-assisted its opponents 13.9 apg to 9.3 apg this season.
Princeton has improved its free throw shooting from the pre-Ivy schedule to the Ivy campaign, shooting 62.9 percent in the 16 pre-Ivy games and 69.4 percent in the conference season.
The Tigers have also improved on their 3FG percentage defense between the pre-Ivy run and the conference season, allowing 35 percent shooting in the 16 pre-Ivy games and 30.7 percent shooting in the seven Ivy games.
Princeton's highest Ivy League statistical ranking is second in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.1:1. The Tigers do not rank eighth in any category.
On the dunk tote board this season, Ian Hummer leads the team with 10 while Denton Koon and Brendan Connolly have eight slams apiece.
Princeton is 7-3 when leading at the half this season and 6-7 when trailing. The Tigers are 2-0 in overtime this season.
Princeton has a seven-game winning streak going in overtime games, the program's longest since winning 10 straight OT games from 1951-61. The youngest three classes on this Tiger team have not lost an OT game. The two streaks are the two longest in program history.
Against Cornell:
As with last season, Princeton faced Cornell and Columbia on the road first this season before hosting the two New York teams. Home was a much friendlier place last season for the Tigers than Ithaca, as Princeton's 57-55 win came down to the last possession two weeks before handling the Big Red 84-66 in Jadwin. This year, Princeton lost by eight, 67-59, in Ithaca.
The Red have been much better at home than on the road, going 1-10 away from Newman Arena and 9-2 at home. Among the road losses were defeats at Illinois by four, Penn State by 10 and Maryland by eight, while the Red's only road win was at Dartmouth two weekends ago.
Princeton tried 27 3-pointers at Cornell in the Ivy opener and no more than 22 in any of the six games since. The Red remain the Ivy's top ranked team in 3FG percentage defense at .281, a stat at which they rank ninth in the nation.
Cornell's 6-2 freshman guard Galal Cancer had a breakout game against the Tigers in Ithaca, scoring a game-high 17 points. Cancer hasn't had a double-digit scoring game since that career-best 17-point breakout.
While Galal Cancer had a big night against the Tigers, 6-2 senior guard Drew Ferry, Cornell's leading scorer on the season (11.4 ppg) was held without a point for only the second time in the transfer's two-year Cornell career. The only other time was also against Princeton and also in Ithaca last season. In the game at Princeton last season, Ferry had 10 points in his team's 18-point defeat.
Shonn Miller, a 6-7 freshman forward, was also a big factor for Cornell in the win over Princeton, scoring 12 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Miller is averaging 10.6 ppg in the eight Ivy contests and has only failed to score at least nine points once in the league season, getting two points in the loss at Columbia.
Princeton struggled with turnovers and fouls in its visit to Ithaca last month, piling up 13 giveaways to only six for the Red and hearing 20 whistles to 14 for Cornell. That sent Cornell to the line for 27 tries (made 17) to just 16 (made 11) for the Tigers.
The Tigers were also unable to exploit their size advantage on the glass in the game in Ithaca, being outrebounded 42-41 by a Big Red team that holds a -6.6 rebounding disadvantage this season.
Milestones:
Next up on the career scoring list for Ian Hummer (1,039) is his former coach, Sydney Johnson '97, at 1,044, followed by former teammate Dan Mavraides '11 at 1,054. Armond Hill '85 (1,057), James Brangan '60 (1,062), Art Hyland '63 (1,064) are also within range for Hummer this weekend.
Douglas Davis is in sixth place on the Princeton career scoring list at 1,412 points. Next up is current assistant coach Brian Earl '99 at 1,428, the last Princeton player to score as many as Davis.
Davis is in second place in Princeton history in 3-pointers made with 252. Only Brian Earl '99 (281) is ahead of him on that list. Davis is fourth on the Ivy League list for career 3-pointers behind Penn's Tim Begley (253, 2001-05), Brian Earl '99 (281) and Cornell's Ryan Wittman (377, 2006-10)
At 113 career games played, Davis is on track to surpass Brian Earl's program record of 116 games played.
Davis is seventh in program history in field goals made at 499. Brian Taylor '84 is next up at 507. He is third all-time in field goals attempted at 1,200, likely where he'll finish his career as Bud Haabestad '55 is next at 1,339.
Entering the season:
Princeton is coming off its 26th Ivy League championship (55 seasons) and 24th NCAA Tournament appearance (all since 1952), both Ivy League record totals.
Height dominates the Tiger roster this season, as the average height is 6-foot-7. Eight of the 16 players are 6-foot-8 or taller. No other Ivy League team has more than six players at 6-foot-8 (Columbia).
Princeton's 25 wins last season tied for the second-most in program history and the most since the 1997-98 team, which included current coaches Mitch Henderson '98 and Brian Earl '99, went 27-2.
Mitch Henderson '98, the team's Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach, is the 29th man to hold the job and the fourth consecutive alumnus to do so (John Thompson III '88, Joe Scott '87, Sydney Johnson '97).
Henderson, who played in three NCAA Tournaments for Princeton, spent 11 years at Northwestern under one of his former coaches at Princeton, Bill Carmody, as an assistant coach.
Princeton is second to North Carolina in alumni as active Division I head coaches. Eight Tar Heels are roaming the sidelines, while six Tigers are doing so: Thompson III '88 (Georgetown), Scott '87 (Denver), Johnson '97 (Fairfield), Henderson '98 (Princeton), Chris Mooney '94 (Richmond) and Craig Robinson '83 (Oregon State).
There are 11 Ivy League alumni as current Division I head coaches, and Princeton has six. Four of the others are from Penn (Fran McCaffery, Iowa; Matt Langel, Colgate; Andrew Toole, Robert Morris; Jerome Allen, Penn) along with Jeff Jackson from Cornell (Furman).
Princeton is looking to make up for its largest offensive loss to graduation since the 2007-08 to 2008-09 seasons, when the Tigers did not return 57 percent of their offense. From 2008-09 to 2009-10, the loss was just six percent. From 2009-10 to 2010-11, the loss was 25 percent. Now from 2010-11 to 2011-12, the loss is 39 percent. Princeton will be looking to replace the 2011 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year forward Kareem Maddox and second-team All-Ivy honoree forward Dan Mavraides.
Princeton has increased its win total over three consecutive offseasons, in 2008 (six to 13), 2009 (13 to 22) and 2010 (22 to 25). The last time Princeton had three such offseasons was 1995-97. The last time Princeton had a longer streak was six offseasons, from 1985-90.
Princeton's 59-57 NCAA Tournament loss to Kentucky, which went on to the national semifinal, was the closest the Tigers have come to winning an NCAA Tournament game since its last victory, a 69-57 triumph over UNLV in 1998. It was the closest Princeton NCAA Tournament game, win or lose, since the 1996 win over UCLA (43-41).
Princeton has made the postseason in each of the last two years, advancing to the College Basketball Invitational semifinal in 2010 before the NCAA Tournament last season. Princeton made the postseason annually from 1996-2002 and then only once from 2003-09, in the 2004 NCAAs.
Princeton led the Ivy League last season in scoring defense (63.0 ppg), field goal percentage defense (.330), rebounding margin (+4.1 rpg) and defensive rebounding percentage (.732).
Princeton was picked second in the Ivy League in the preseason media poll, tied with Yale and with Harvard in first place.
On Columbia: All five of Columbia's Ivy League losses have come by no more than five points ... Columbia shot 53.3 percent last weekend against Yale and Brown ... the Lions had a 20-point lead with 10 minutes to go against Yale Saturday night in Manhattan, but the Bulldogs closed on a 26-5 run to win 59-58 ... the Lions have shot 50 percent (27-54) from 3-point range over the last three games ... 6-1 junior guard Brian Barbour is on a 10-game double-digit scoring streak and leads the Ivy in free throw percentage at .908 ... ... 6-3 senior guard Noruwa Agho, who led the team in scoring last season at 16.8 ppg, has been out injured since the second game of the season ... four of 6-9 junior center Mark Cisco's five double-doubles this season have come in Ivy play, including a 20-rebound, 18-point game against Cornell on Jan. 21 ... Cisco has shot 70 percent (49-70) from the field over the last nine games and leads the Ivy League in field goal percentage this season at .610 ... Cisco, Barbour, 6-3 sophomore guard Meiko Lyles, 6-7 freshman forward Rosenberg and 6-8 junior forward Daniels have had 110 of the 120 starts this season ... Lyles had a successful weekend last weekend with 17 points in each game against Brown and Yale, shooting .571 (12-21) from the field for his most points since the Ivy opener against Cornell (21) on Jan. 4 ... Lyles is the top 3-point shooter in the Ivy by percentage at .436 (48-110).
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