Two For The Tigers

REMINDER - PRINCETON HOSTS PROVIDENCE IN MEN'S HOCKEY TONIGHT AT 7

Even after all these years of rooting for Princeton over his alma mater, TigerBlog still can't get the Penn fight songs out of his head.

And so there he was yesterday afternoon, heading back down to his office and whistling "Drink A Highball," something the Penn band had just been playing.

The Princeton-Penn women's basketball had just ended, and TB didn't even realize what he was whistling until he got down to around D level. He laughed, since he was completely pleased to see his alma mater lose the game.

The final score was Princeton 55, Penn 40. Even though the Ivy League season still has nine more games to be played, this was still a big outcome for the Tigers.

Princeton had started out the year at 0-2 in the league before winning its next two. Penn came in as the lone unbeaten at 4-0. This is one of those "the math is obvious" games. 

And how did Princeton come up with the big win? It did so by following Carla Berube's preferred way of playing to a T, or should that be to a D, as in "Defense."

Princeton allowed Penn to score eight points, on 4 for 4 shooting, in the first 2:20 of the first quarter. It was 8-2 Quakers at the time.

What happened over the last 37:40? Princeton outscored Penn 53-32. Princeton hounded the Quakers to 10 for 44 shooting in that time, forcing 19 turnovers (to go along with one in the first 2:20).

For the game Princeton outrebounded Penn 39-26. The Tigers had nine steals. Princeton had 19 assists on 22 baskets.

Madison St. Rose led Princeton with 15 points. The freshman from the Jersey Shore had two double figure games in the season's first 13 games; she's had three in the last four.  

Princeton 42, Penn 24 | 5:49 3rd

"Catch us if you can!" (You can't!)

Tigers off and running today!

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— Princeton WBB (@PrincetonWBB) January 16, 2023

When it was over, Princeton was 3-2, tied with Harvard, trailing Penn, Columbia and Yale at 4-1. With every other league team now with four losses, it looks like those five are in the race for the four Ivy tournament spots.

TB walked back to the garage outside Jadwin with Penn Director of Athletics and longtime friend Alanna Shanahan. She was headed to the Palestra for the men's game (how many people out there went to both?). TB said he definitely considered the doubleheader but figured he'd watch it on TV instead.

The Princeton-Penn men's game was the final one of the day in the league. By the time the Tigers and Quakers tipped off, Cornell had beaten Columbia 102-85, Dartmouth had moved over .500 in the league by taking down Harvard 60-59 and Brown did what Brown does, which means that the Brown-Yale game went down to the final seconds before the Bulldogs won 81-78. For Brown, its last three Ivy games have been decided by two, two and three.

After trailing by one at the half, Princeton defeated Penn 72-60. The result is that Princeton and Cornell remain tied atop the league at 4-1, followed by the only other team over .500 at this point, Dartmouth, who is 1) 3-2 and 2) in Jadwin Gym Saturday at 2. There are four teams at 2-3: Penn, Yale, Harvard and Brown.

The win continued Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson's extraordinary record against Penn. He's now 24-8 overall against the Quakers, with a 5-4 record as a player and a 19-4 record as head coach - and this after starting out 0-4 as a player, which leaves him 24-4 since. 

Princeton's men also won the game with defense, rebounding — and an unstoppable night from Tosan Evbuomwan. The reigning Ivy Player of the Year scored 26 points on 9 for 13 shooting, with seven rebounds and three assists mixed in. 

Both teams did what they do better than any other team in the league. Penn, the top Ivy team at the foul line, shot 18 for 22 from the stripe. Princeton, one of the top rebounding teams in the league, had 44 board to 36 for the Quakers. Princeton held the Quakers to 33 percent shooting for the night, including 0 for 12 from three-point range.

Added up, and it was a Martin Luther King Day sweep for the Tigers over the Quakers. It was also another big step in the direction of the league race and positioning for the Ivy tournament, which comes to Jadwin the second weekend of March.