Holiday Hoops, Orange Out Set for Tuesday as Monmouth Visits Men's Hoops Team

It'll be an in-state battle Tuesday night at Jadwin Gym, when Princeton and Monmouth meet on Carril Court. It'll be an Orange Out, with a free t-shirt for the first 500 fans, and it's also time for Princeton's annual Holiday Hoops food drive, with fans who bring a canned food donation getting discounted entry into the game (info).

Princeton (2-6) vs. Monmouth (3-6), Tuesday, Dec. 12, 7 p.m., Jadwin Gym, Princeton, N.J.
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• Princeton Game Notes

• Up next: It's time for the Tigers to hit the road. A five-game, 12-day trip to California and Hawaii will log approximately 10,500 miles between 9,970 air miles, 380 miles to and from LAX to Cal Poly, 105 miles to and from airports in New Jersey and New York, and the miles Princeton will log on the ground in Los Angeles ahead of the Dec. 19 USC game. The Tigers will play at Cal Poly on Dec. 16 and in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Dec. 22-25 in Honolulu.

• Princeton leads the all-time series with Monmouth 11-5, including a 6-2 advantage in Jadwin Gym. The teams first played on Nov. 20, 1991 in Jadwin in the Preseason NIT, and 15 of the 16 meetings came between that 1991-92 season and the 2010-11 season. The series didn't get its next installment until last season, a 96-90 Monmouth win on Dec. 20, 2016 at Monmouth, and this will be the Hawks' first trip to Jadwin since Dec. 16, 2009, a 46-42 Princeton win.

• Devin Cannady had a big game in the teams' last meeting, putting in 26 points including five 3-pointers while nearly getting a double-double with eight rebounds. Despite the big number, it was neither a team-high point total nor a game-high, as Steven Cook went 12 for 18 from the field and 4 of 7 from the to pour in 30 points, and Justin Robinson (27) and Je'lon Hornbeak (25) had big nights for Monmouth. Of Princeton's 90 points, 46 are back with Cannady, Amir Bell (nine), Myles Stephens (six) and Alec Brennan (five). Monmouth returns 32 of its 96, led by Austin Tilghman (18) and Micah Seaborn (10).

• Monmouth outshot Princeton 49.3 percent to 48.5 percent from the field in last year's game, heating up from 41.2 percent before the break to 57.6 percent after as the Hawks expanded on a one-point halftime lead. Monmouth added to that with a 40-32 rebounding edge, though Je'lon Hornbeak, who had a double-double with 10 boards to go with his 25 points, was a senior last year and was the only Hawk with more than five rebounds in the game.

• Monmouth was picked third in the MAAC preseason coaches poll with 101 poll points, behind only Iona (116) and Manhattan (104). Micah Seaborn was a preseason All-MAAC first-teamer.

• The Tigers have overcome tough starts to have a strong Ivy League season before under Mitch Henderson. In Henderson's first season of 2011-12, Princeton started 1-5 before finishing 10-4 in the league, a record that's now one likely in contention for an Ivy League Tournament bid. In 2012-13, Princeton started 3-6 before going 10-4 in the league. In 2014-15, Princeton started 3-8 before going 9-5 in the league. Last season, Princeton started 4-6 before going 14-0 in the Ivy.

• Judging by Monmouth's last several games, a repeat of last year's 96-90 affair wouldn't be a surprise. The Hawks have scored at least 76 points in each of their last five games (7 of 10 on the year) and hit 80 in four of them (6 of 10 on the year), though two of the last five were OT games. Monmouth has allowed at least 72 points in nine of its 10 games, with the lone exception being a 62-51 loss at UNC Asheville. The average score of Monmouth's last five games has been Opponent 87, Monmouth 84.

• Monmouth will face three Ivy opponents in a month's time, with a 101-96, 4OT loss to Penn on Nov. 25 in the books and a Dec. 22 visit to Yale upcoming. Monmouth also faced Lehigh, which defeated Princeton 85-76 in Jadwin on Nov. 22. The Hawks beat their Mountain Hawk cousins 80-72 on Nov. 14 in Bethlehem.

• Monmouth had been shooting very well before a step back against Kentucky Saturday (.371, 10-29/.345 from 3), shooting 50 percent or better from the field 40 percent or better from 3 against Albany, Connecticut and Hofstra. That three-game stretch led to only one win, however, as the Hawks had trouble holding on to the basketball against UConn and Hofstra, committing 15 and 17 turnovers to 10 apiece for their opponents. Monmouth also allowed each of its last four opponents, including those three and Kentucky, to shoot at least 42 percent from the field, a clip that includes Albany, UConn and Kentucky shooting no better than 36 percent from 3. Hofstra shooting 54 percent from 3 (13-24) was an anomaly against Hofstra, which has only allowed two opponents this season (UNCA) to shoot 40 percent from distance. Entering Saturday's game vs. Kentucky, Monmouth ranked 29th in the nation in FT attempts at 232 (26/game), and Princeton is 0-4 this season when the opponent takes at least 20 FTs.

• Princeton is 5-2 against the MAAC under Mitch Henderson, including 1-1 versus Saint Peter's, 4-0 against Rider and 0-1 against Monmouth. This will be Princeton's first MAAC opponent of the season, and the Monmouth game was Princeton's only MAAC game last season.

• Devin Cannady is the lone Tiger to score in double figures in all eight games this season. It's the longest Tiger double-figure scoring streak to start a season since Ian Hummer '13 hit 10+ in each of the first 19 games of the 2011-12 season.

• The Tigers have used four starting combos this season. Amir Bell, Devin Cannady and Myles Stephens have started all eight games, while rookies Sebastian Much and Jerome Desrosiers, sophomores Richmond Aririguzoh and Will Gladson, and seniors Alec Brennan and Mike LeBlanc have all started at least one game. For the GW game, Princeton returned to the five it used in the opener, with Much and Desrosiers joining Bell, Cannady and Stephens. The freshman pair combined for 7-of-10 shooting overall and 4 of 6 from 3 on the way to 18 points with nine apiece.

• Devin Cannady's climb up Princeton's 3-pointer list will remain in sixth place for a while as he closes the big gap between his 167 career 3s and the 209 that former teammate Spencer Weisz '17 posted. He's also closing in on becoming Princeton's 33rd 1,000-point scorer and the sixth to play for Mitch Henderson, entering Tuesday's game with 893 career points. Senior Amir Bell is at 799 and junior Myles Stephens is at 632.

• More records: Princeton's single-season 3-pointer mark belongs to Sean Jackson '92, who drilled 95 in 1990-91. Counting only the regular season, Cannady is on pace for 105 3s this year, a number that would put him in the neighborhood of the Ivy League record set by Cornell alum Ryan Wittman at 109 in his senior year of 2009-10.

• Entering Saturday's (12/9) games, Devin Cannady ranked 11th nationally in 3FG percentage (527), 16th in 3s per game (3.63), 23rd in minutes per game (36:45), 31st in 3s made (29) and 41st in FT percentage (.909).

• Devin Cannady, Myles Stephens and Amir Bell have combined for 52.4 percent of the minutes through eight games. All three average at least 33.2 minutes per game, and no other Tiger is closer than senior Mike LeBlanc at 21.3 mpg.

• Three of the five Tiger rookies have logged double-figure minutes in at least one game this season, with Ryan Schwieger doing so in all eight and Sebastian Much in seven of the eight. Schwieger has scored in four straight games after doing so in two of the first four, while Much has scored 38 of his 44 points across the last five games. and Jerome Desrosiers has scored all 20 of his points over his last four games played (last five overall, DNP vs. Lehigh).

• The trio of Myles Stephens, Devin Cannady and Amir Bell, a group that accounts for 2,337 of the 3,001 points on the roster, or 77.9 percent. Sebastian Much is the only other player with a double-figure scoring game this season, hitting 10 against Lafayette and Lehigh.

• The KenPom top 100 entering Sunday's (12/10) games included at least five regular-season foes on the schedule, including Miami (15), USC (29), Butler (49), Middle Tennessee (67), BYU (71), and Davidson (80). Princeton could face as many as two of USC, Miami and Davidson in Hawaii after also facing USC and Miami in scheduled games.

• Under Mitch Henderson, the Tigers now have a 43-41 (.512) record in the pre-New Year portion of the schedule and a 78-25 (.757) record from Jan. 1 forward.

• Henderson is on track to coach his 200th game at Princeton on Feb. 6 vs. Penn. The only other Tiger mentors to coach 200 games are Albert Wittmer (1923-1932, 115-86), Franklin "Cappy" Cappon (1938-43 & 1946-61, 250-181) and Pete Carril (1967-96, 514-261). Henderson, at 121 wins, is third behind Cappon (250) and Carril (514, 1967-96), for whom Henderson played his first two seasons at Princeton.

• Princeton is coming off a 14-0 Ivy League season, the sixth in program history and first since 1998, and the 14th in Ivy League history and first since 2008 (Cornell). That earned the Tigers their 27th Ivy League championship and the top seed in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament, which Princeton won to advance to its 25th NCAA Tournament.

• The Tigers graduated three starters in Ivy League Player of the Year Spencer Weisz, first-team All-Ivy Leaguer Steven Cook, and center Pete Miller. Despite that, Princeton returns two starters in junior Devin Cannady, an honorable-mention All-Ivy Leaguer, and classmate Myles Stephens, the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, a first-team All-Ivy Leaguer, and the Ivy League Tournament MVP. Princeton also returns senior Amir Bell, who has started 64 games in his career, including five games last year.

• Princeton's 19-game winning streak that included the final 17 games of the regular season and the Ivy League Tournament was the second-longest in program history behind the 20 straight that the 1997-98 team won with Mitch Henderson as a senior.

• Princeton ended last season tops in the nation in fewest turnovers at 298, fourth in fewest fouls at 482, fifth in turnovers per game at 9.9, ninth in scoring defense at 61.4 ppg allowed, 12th in 3s per game at 9.9, 15th in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.44, and 17th in turnover margin at +3.2/game.

• Princeton ended 49th in last season's final RPI after ending the season ranked 47th in 2016.

• Princeton was voted a close third in the Ivy League's official preseason media poll. Princeton received three of the 17 first-place votes with Harvard getting six first-place votes and Yale eight. Harvard had 121 poll points to 118 for Yale and 114 for Princeton.

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