Wednesday, December 4, 2024

A Lot Can Happen In A Day

OFFICIAL TAGD WEBSITE

And that's a wrap for TAGD 2024.

The 11th annual Tiger Athletics Give Day went on for 24 hours yesterday. Once again, the support given to Princeton Athletics and its 38 varsity teams was overwhelming, and TigerBlog joins all of his colleagues to offer his thanks. 

It was a day of celebration and a day of outreach. TAGD, as it always does, showcased the great loyalty that defines Princeton Athletics and the unbreakable connection that exists between those who coach and play here now and those who have done so in the past. 

If you followed the day on social media, you saw what an amazing day it was. Did you see this video, produced by Drew Miller of the multimedia team?

That was a lot for one day, right? If you recall that day, it was well-chronicled as one of the busiest Princeton Athletics has ever had, especially with hosting two Ivy League tournaments. The way that Drew captured it gives a pretty good idea of everything that can happen in a day.

It was entitled "A Lot Can Happen In A Day." The same was true of yesterday. A lot happened in one day.

There were all kinds of posts yesterday, from professionally produced videos to others that were filmed on iPhones. There were pictures of all kinds, some with the Tiger himself as he made an appearance at Cannon Club during lunch. 

One of the people who took a lead in churning out content was Gracie McGowan, a senior who just completed her field hockey career. Gracie, who is a veteran in social media in addition to her sport, sent TB a schedule of what to post and when, along with what caption was necessary. 

Gracie produced video salutes from many of her teammates, all of which spoke to a different part of the TFH experience. Here's an example, with senior Lily Webb:

TB could offer up all kinds of examples across every sport. The theme was "Golden Moments," and TB even included the Ithaca hotel "Cayuga Blu" as part of the men's lacrosse moments, in conjunction with last year's second-straight Ivy League tournament championship (by the way, the 2025 Princeton men's lacrosse schedule has been released).

There will be follow ups as well, with thank yous and final totals and the winners of each bracket. There have already been thank-yous, including from the athletes, many of whom reached out directly to existing members of the Friends' Groups.

It was, after all, a day of celebration — and again, to everyone who generously donated, know that your kindness is greatly appreciated. 

Of course, since a lot can happen in a day, TAGD was not the only news of the day in Princeton Athletics. There was also Xaivian Lee. 

The Princeton men's basketball team played at Saint Joseph's last night, and it was clear early on that Lee, the junior guard, was chasing history. What kind? In the entire history of Princeton men's basketball, there had never been a triple-double. 

Would Lee change that last night? 

By halftime he had six points, seven assists and eight rebounds. He reached double figures in points and rebounds early in the second half. All that was left was assists. He had eight of them with 17:33 left. 

So now there were two pieces of drama. Would Princeton pull out what was a back-and-forth game down the stretch? And would Lee get his two assists?

For 15 minutes or so, he was stuck on eight assists. Oh sure, he started scoring, hitting a big three, getting free in the lane, helping Princeton build a slight lead. But the assists. Would they happen?

Well, with just over two minutes to go, Lee picked up assist No. 9, on Philip Byriel's sixth three-pointer of the night, making it 71-65 Tigers. 

After the Hawks answered to make it 71-67, Lee brought the ball into the lane, looked all the world like he was going to the hoop and instead found Caden Pierce, whose reverse layup did indeed go down. Assist No. 10.

History.

Okay, it's very likely that there would have been a triple-double had assists been officially kept before 1974. Bill Bradley probably would have a bunch by himself. 

But the reality is that no Tiger man had done so since 1974, and that's 50 years — and a ton of great players. 

In the end, Princeton got itself a huge win, taking down the Hawks 77-69. 

Lee finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds and the 10 assists. 

Yup. A lot happened yesterday.

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