Before TigerBlog talks about anything else, he wants to mention first that tomorrow is TAGD.
If you are new here, TAGD stands for "Tiger Athletics Give Day." It's a huge celebration for Princeton Athletics and everyone who has given such generous support through the years.
TB will have much more on TAGD tomorrow. For now, you can click HERE for more information.
Elsewhere, how was your Thanksgiving? Do you head out early for Black Friday savings?
Is it safe now to listen to Christmas music, or do you need to wait a few more days?
Among all the wholesome Thanksgiving content that there was last week, this might have been the best, courtesy of the Instagram account of Ashley Madalon, the wife of head men's lacrosse coach Matt Madalon:
How cute is that?
On more serious matters, there were some big moments in Princeton Athletics this weekend, most notably in DeNunzio Pool, where ninth-ranked Princeton hosted Fordham in the first round of the NCAA men's water polo tournament.
TB turned it on just as regulation was ending, with the score 9-9. As the teams were heading to overtime, there was a close-up shot of Princeton's No. 7, Keller Maloney as he leaned against one of the lane lines just before play restarted for the two three-minute OT periods.
What was he doing? Smiling. TB made a note of that.
Then Keller got serious. First he scored to put Princeton on top 10-9 with a goal in the first OT. Then, after Fordham tied it, Maloney made a game-winning play when, with time running out, he didn't force a shot, instead making the extra pass to Roko Pozaric, who ripped in a shot with three seconds left to make the final 11-10.
FINAL: Princeton 11, Fordham 10
— Princeton Water Polo (@Pwaterpolo) November 26, 2022
ROKO SENDS THE TIGERS TO CALIFORNIA! UNBELIEVABLE! pic.twitter.com/4GtMCmlBjy
Besides giving the Tigers a reason to smile, the win advanced Princeton to the quarterfinals against top-seeded USC Thursday at 8 Eastern from the University of California in Berkeley. It's a big ask of Princeton, who did not play USC during the regular season.
If you go by comparative scores, though, there's no reason to think Princeton won't give a good account of itself. For instance, both teams lost to UCLA by an 8-6 score (USC was 1-2 against the Bruins this season) and both beat Stanford (USC 19-14, Princeton 11-10).
Meanwhile, while the men's water polo team was competing in Princeton for the chance to head to the West Coast, the men's basketball team was competing in London, knowing it would return to Princeton after its two games there.
Princeton was part of the four-team London Basketball Classic, an event that gave the Tigers a chance to explore England, allowed reigning Ivy Player of the Year Tosan Evbuomwan a chance to return to his native country and presented the team with two very competitive games. When the team got back on the plane to come home, it had with it the championship trophy and the MVP trophy, which went to Evbuomwan.
Princeton started the tournament Thursday, which was not Thankgiving in Engand, which doesn't have an official Thanksgiving holiday. To get things started, Princeton turned around an early deficit to beat Army-West Point 74-66.
After a day off Friday, which included watching the England-USA World Cup draw, the Tigers then came back Saturday and used a 12-0 second half run to take down Northeastern 56-54.
Princeton will be back in Jadwin Gym Wednesday to take on Cairn to start a run of six of its next eight games at home, a stretch that ends with the Ivy opener against Harvard on New Year's Eve afternoon. The two road games in that run are both within an hour of campus.
Before all that, though, don't forget about TAGD tomorrow. TB will be back with more on the subject tomorrow.
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