Tripleheader Tuesday

Remember that Florida-Gulf Coast women's basketball team who came to Jadwin Gym back on Nov. 17?

Princeton won that game 67-53 despite having Bella Alarie for only 11 minutes due to injury.

So what's the big deal about that game now, more than three weeks later? Turns out that the game at Jadwin is the only loss for Florida-Gulf Coast, who is now 10-1 on the season, including a win over Notre Dame.

The Eagles are the second team out of the Top 25, in the "others receiving votes" category, in this week's AP poll. They're also ranked 15th in Division in RPI.

That's a pretty good win for the Tigers.

Oh, and guess who is ranked fifth in this weeks RPI? It's 7-1 Princeton.

The top five in RPI through Sunday's games are: Oregon State, Missouri State, UConn, Stanford and Princeton. The next five are: Louisville, DePaul, Creighton, Gonzaga and Northwestern.

Obviously those rankings will shake up considerably as the year goes along. Still, Princeton is clearly off to a good start and continues to be a major factor in the national conversation in women's basketball.

And, even more impressively, the Tigers are doing this against a tough schedule, and without having had Alarie for three games (and only a small part of the F-GC game). And Alarie, the two-time Ivy Player of the Year, isn't the only player who has missed time, including Abby Meyers, who missed the first four.

Despite that, Princeton is at 7-1, with only an overtime loss at Big Ten member Iowa in between the Tigers and an unbeaten start. They've done this under a first-year head coach, Carla Berube, and a new coaching staff.

Princeton is allowing just 56 points per game (leading the league in blocked shots and steals), and opponents are shooting 36 percent from the field and 29.7 percent from three. The Tigers are also getting better as games go along, outscoring opponents by an average of 15.5-14.8 in the first quarters and then an average of 18.4-13.3 in the other three quarters.

Most recently, Princeton went on a 19-3 run in the second half to defeat a very good Marist team  62-50. Princeton's constant has been its defense, with five of eight opponents held to 50 points or fewer and a sixth held to 53.

You next chance to see the Princeton women's basketball team is, of all days, today. In fact, it's a very busy day at Princeton, with home games in women's basketball, men's basketball and men's hockey.

Also, because of how the schedule is set, you can see at least some of all three. It's tripleheader Tuesday.

The women's basketball team hosts Hartford at 5, followed by the men's game against Monmouth at 8. In between, facing off at 7, will be the men's hockey team, who takes on American International.

Monmouth brings a 4-5 record into the men's game. The Hawks have played as many games in Florida and Kansas so far this year as they have in New Jersey.

The game tonight will be Monmouth's only game in a 24-day stretch.

Princeton's Jaelin Llewellyn is coming off a career-high 28 points in the Tigers' most recent game, an 82-76 loss at Drexel last Wednesday. Llewellyn and Richmond Arirguzoh have combined to average more than 31 points per game between them.

Both basketball teams have had freshmen who have come on strong of late.

The men have Tosan Evbuomwan, who played 13 total minutes with five points in the first three games. Since then, in the last four, he's averaged just about 25 minutes per game, with an average of 9.3 points per game (and three games in double figures).

For the women, it's been the emergence of Ellie Mitchell, who has played 57 of her 131 minutes in the last two games. That equates to an average of 28.5 in the last two after 12.3 in the first six. She also has 19 points and 27 rebounds in those two games, with 17 of those 27 on the offensive glass.

As for the men's hockey team, the game tonight matches the Tigers against the defending Atlantic Hockey champs. AIC a year ago reached the NCAA tournament, knocking off No. 1 seeded St. Cloud State in the first round before falling to Denver in the quarterfinals.