A Weekend Off

Remember last week, when TigerBlog mentioned the billboard he saw from the law firm, saying to call them if "Grandma got run over by a reindeer?"

Well, this week on 295 TB saw another holiday-themed message. This wasn't a billboard but one of those messages that implores you to drive safely.

This one said: "Texting and Driving? That automatically puts you on the naughty list."

That's not bad. This is, after all the time of year when parents can get little kids to do almost anything by simply pointing out that "Santa is watching" and that they're going to end up on the naughty list. 

Anyway, so what did you do this weekend? 

TigerBlog knows what you didn't do. You didn't watch any Princeton teams play.

Because of first semester exams, this is essentially the midpoint of a 10-day stretch with no Princeton Athletic events. This past weekend was, in fact, the first weekend since Aug. 23 without any Princeton team who was competing. 

There were teams who are going to be playing against Princeton soon who did compete.

One of those was the Rutgers men's basketball team, who beat Seton Hall 66-63 on freshman Dylan Harper's buzzer-beating three-pointer. Harper and fellow five-star Ace Bailey combined for 45 of Rutgers' 66 points. 

For the season, those two are averaging 41.4 points per game, so the game Saturday against the Pirates wasn't all that out of the ordinary. The two are both projected as top five NBA draft picks this coming year, if they leave after one year.

Their next game will be Saturday at noon at the Prudential Center in Newark. The opponent? Princeton.

Tickets can be purchased HERE.

Of course, if you're a Princeton fan, you're as interested in seeing No. 99 for the Scarlet Knights play as much as you are the two freshmen. That No. 99 is Zach Martini, the Princeton alum and a key figure on the Tigers' 2023 Sweet 16 team. 

Martini is averaging 4.5 points per game for Rutgers. He is 16 for 32 from the field, of which 10 of 24 is from three-point range, which makes Martini 6 for 8 on two-point shots. 

Rutgers is currently 3-0 against New Jersey opponents, having defeated St. Peter's and Monmouth in addition to Seton Hall. Princeton is 1-0 against the Garden State, with a win of its own over Monmouth.

By the way, Harper was named the MVP of the game against Seton Hall and as such was given the Joe Calabrese Trophy. Joe Calabrese was a longtime New Jersey sportswriter who covered a lot of college sports, including at Princeton.

TigerBlog spent quite a few hours driving to and from Princeton games with Joe Calabrese when he'd cover the Tigers on the road. He was part of something of a golden age in New Jersey college sportswriting, not to mention an extraordinarily nice person. He'd be thrilled to know that his name is on a trophy for that game.

Princeton and Rutgers first played basketball against each other in 1917, and Princeton holds a 76-45 edge in the series. That first game, by the way, was 48 years after Rutgers and Princeton played in the first college football game ever. 

The game Saturday will be the fifth between the teams to be played at a neutral site. One of those was last year, when Princeton defeated Rutgers at the Cure Arena in Trenton. Another was the heartbreaking 54-53 Tiger loss in the 1976 NCAA tournament in Providence, in a year when the Scarlet Knights were unbeaten and reached the Final Four. 

The teams also played at Madison Square Garden in 1972 and 2000. 

And then there will be the game Saturday in Newark. It's a chance to see an old friend and the two new superstars — and to do so in a beautiful arena. What could be better than that, especially after all this time away?

Until then, it's still first semester exams. 

From there, it'll be June before there's another Tiger-less weekend.