For what seemed like the entire second half of its game against
Rutgers Friday night, the Princeton men's basketball team appeared to be
down by six.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, that was the margin when the second half was over as well.
Princeton spent a frustrating evening trying to catch up to the
Scarlet Knights and could never do it, as Rutgers used 22 points from
Eli Carter and 16 from Mack Myles to defeat the Tigers by, what else,
six points, by a count of 58-52 in front of 3,150 at Jadwin Gym.
Oh, it wasn't really six points the entire time. In fact, Princeton
would get as close as one in the second half but could never get over
the top.
As a result, the Tigers fall to 1-2 on the young season heading into a game Wednesday at Syracuse. Rutgers improved to 2-1.
Princeton jumped out to a 10-2 lead, but Rutgers was on fire from
three-point range over the final 12 minutes of the first half, which
ended with the Knights up by, what else, six points, at 33-27 after
hitting 6 of 10 from distance.
Rutgers would attempt only three more three-pointers after that,
making one, as the second half became more of a grind-it-out affair. The
big number after intermission was 23.1, which was the Tigers' shooting
percentage from three-point range, and Rutgers used a 42-24 rebounding
edge to keep control.
Will Barrett led Princeton with 13 points, while Ian Hummer added 10
and Denton Koon added nine. Hummer also had six assists and four
rebounds and is now 12th all-time in scoring at Princeton with 1,217
points, 22 behind Brian Taylor for 11th and 60 away from Gabe Lewullis
for 10th.
Postgame notes
• Princeton was attempting to win three straight
against Rutgers for the first time since the mid-1990s, but instead the
Scarlet Knights defeated Princeton for the first time since Dec. 3,
2009.
• Will Barrett's 13 points gave him double-digit points in three straight games for the first time in his career.
• Rutgers limited Ian Hummer to one point in the second half, while Denton Koon had all nine of his points in the second half.
• T.J. Bray's eight rebounds tied a career high, a total he reached four times last season.
• Princeton's 18-rebound deficit was its largest since Feb. 13, 2009, when Yale outrebounded the Tigers by 20.
• Princeton started 1-5 last season before finishing 19-7 over the rest of the season.
•
Princeton is shooting .292 (21-72) from beyond the arc over the three
games this season, while opponents are shooting .571 (20-35).
•
Princeton shot .315 (67-213) from beyond the arc over the first 10 games
of last season (4-6 record) before warming up to shoot .407 (169-415)
over the rest of the season (16-6 record).
• Princeton has
attempted at least 23 3-pointers in each of the first three games this
season. The Tigers tried that many over a three-game stretch only twice
last season, and never over a four-game stretch. The most recent
three-game stretch was Dec. 22-Jan. 1 against Siena, Florida State and
Florida A&M.
