Column: Princeton just showed why it has the best duo in New Jersey
“It’s not just a win. It’s a big win. And there’s no going back. The guys hear me say that a lot, but there’s no going back for us.”
NEWARK – Princeton coach Mitch Henderson knew that Saturday’s crowd at the Prudential Center would be overwhelmingly for Rutgers, but it’s another thing when the event staff is rooting against you too.
“We were pulling in before the game,” Henderson recounted afterwards, “and the security guy was there with the dog sniffing the bus, and then he goes, ‘What team do you have here?’ And then the bus driver goes, ‘Princeton,’ and the guy goes, ‘Boooo.’
“I love that stuff.”
The scene was everything the Rutgers administration could have wanted to cook up. Better attended than the game here one year ago against Mississippi State. Better attended than the 2023-24 season opener against Princeton played in Trenton. Vibes through the roof after the Scarlet Knights beat Penn State and, more importantly, Seton Hall. All because of a pair of future NBA players named Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey.
Rutgers fans forgot one thing. Much of the college basketball world may have forgotten due to the Tigers’ unexpectedly bumpy start to the season, keeping them out of the headlines.
Xaivian Lee and Caden Pierce can still ball.
Marketing materials for the Never Forget Tribute Classic displayed images of Harper, Bailey, Lee and Pierce, a pretty obvious move for this all-New Jersey showdown. But at least in the national media, all the focus (somewhat understandably) has been on Rutgers’ lottery picks.
“I talked to many of you in the room, or some of you in the room before the game,” Henderson said, “and it was all Harper, Bailey, Harper, Bailey. I wanted to talk about Lee and Pierce, Lee and Pierce. Those weren’t the questions, but we can talk about them now.”
We can, because Lee and Pierce, Lee and Pierce not only put Princeton back atop the heap in New Jersey with their 83-82 win over Rutgers, they won bragging rights at the individual level. Forever, they’ll be able to tell whoever listens, “We beat Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. We were the better duo that year.”
Lee and Pierce outscored Harper and Bailey 42-37, and if you haven’t seen the end of the game by now and Pierce’s game-winning shot over Jordan Derkack, you really missed out:
Pierce finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds, Lee with 21 points, 11 assists, six rebounds and three steals. They combined to shoot 17-of-39 (43.6%), just a touch behind Harper and Bailey’s combined 15-of-34 (44.1%). Rutgers allowed Pierce to dunk four times.
One of the clearest reasons Lee and Pierce could outshine Harper and Bailey is that the Princeton twosome had a two-year head start. Much has been made of the relationship Harper and Bailey forged pre-Rutgers, but Lee and Pierce have been around each other constantly as classmates (even literal classmates – they have the same major, economics). Hell, they’ve won NCAA Tournament games together.
“For sure, just getting used to playing in huge, packed stadiums,” Lee said, “and to be honest, today the basketballs felt like how they felt in the tournament. They were super inflated, brand new. So just having that under your belt makes any other atmosphere a little more manageable, I feel like.”
Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell tried to articulate what made Lee and Pierce difficult to cover, and he kept coming back to the word “unique.”
“They’re just different. The cores you have defensively kind of got to go out the window a little bit when you play them,” he said. “We’re a gap team and we’re doing different things. You have to kind of change your approach a little bit.”
Pikiell was happy with how Jamichael Davis fared covering Lee before encountering foul trouble. At one point in the first half, it seemed clear Harper was winning the point guard competition – he scored 11 points before Lee had made a shot. But Lee was distributing, and Saturday wasn’t the first time his scoring started slow and picked up speed later in the game.
“They had Matt Allocco last year … So, we kind of laid off (Lee) last year,” Pikiell said of the 2023 meeting. “You know, he just continues to grow as a player. He showed a lot of signs those last couple years and now he’s in charge. And, you know, he goes by you. He’s unique. He goes by you going left. He’s got good size. He’s a really good passer. So, he’s unique. He’s unique. And he’s going to go play basketball for a long time after he’s done.”
As for Pierce, anyone who’s watched him in the past three years knows that one of the best rebounders in Division I isn’t usually 6-foot-7 like he is. In November 2023, he had 15 rebounds (six offensive) against a Rutgers front line led by Cliff Omoruyi. On Saturday, seven of his 14 boards were on offense.
“I’ve got 19 second shots,” Pikiell said, referring to Princeton’s 19 offensive boards. “And (Pierce) had 21 points and a bunch of his were right in the paint. So, you know, he’s a tough cover. And when you’re surrounded by all 3-point shooters, if you go with double down, he’s a good passer. You know, some guys just make it a little bit unique for you.”
Harper and Bailey, talent-wise, on paper, et cetera et cetera, have more tools and more NBA potential than Lee and Pierce. And they play together just fine. But in terms of chemistry and the way two guys complement one another within a system, the points go to Princeton.
On Saturday, five of Bailey’s 10 missed shots were layups, including back-to-back shots at a critical point in the game with three minutes and change to go. When you’re the lengthiest and most athletic player on the floor, you’d think one of those would go in.
And yet I’m fully aware that if Pierce hadn’t made his final shot, if Rutgers had won, everyone would be laser-focused on Bailey’s go-ahead three, set up by an awesome defensive play by Jeremiah Williams to force Pierce to turn the ball over on the inbounds pass. It could have been Harper’s game-winner one week, Bailey’s game-winner the next, living forever in Rutgers lore.
Instead, Rutgers woke up this morning No. 88 in the NET, behind the likes of DePaul, and with an uphill climb awaiting them in the Big Ten season. All because they couldn’t make one final stop.
“I think I looked up, there were 13 seconds on the clock and we were in the bonus,” Pierce said. “So I knew that – there were so many shooters around me, I knew that the lane was going to be pretty open, so I just took my time and tried to get the right shot.”
The Illinois native also had a quote that we may remember for years to come, should this series continue:
“I think this is just New Jersey basketball. I’m new to it, fairly. But the past two years, this game has been electric, and it’s been majority Rutgers fans, but we take that as a challenge.”
Henderson took it as something more. After he improved to 4-1 as a coach against the Scarlet Knights, there was no reason to hold back.
Asked what kind of statement the win made for Ivy League basketball, Henderson didn’t answer right away. The questioner explained that some people “demean” the Ivy League. “Not in my world,” Henderson said. “We don’t recruit that way. What’s Ivy League basketball? We just beat Rutgers. Twice. What is it?”
Soon after, NJ.com asked if Henderson feels Princeton is the premier program in New Jersey. “You said yesterday that this is the premier program, Rutgers,” Henderson said, though it’s unclear to me what this was a reference to. “So yeah, I feel that way.”
Pierce was also asked if all the ink spilled over Harper and Bailey was something the Tigers took personally.
“We were just honestly really excited for this game,” Pierce said. “We were happy we got to play them again after last year. Obviously, we see the headlines, but we knew it was going to be a good test for us and we needed it. We had some ups and downs throughout the start of the season. It was a huge game for us. We needed to come out.”
To that point, Princeton is now 9-4 with solid wins over Saint Joseph’s (away) and Rutgers on its resume. Losses to Loyola Chicago and Furman are not shameful results, but the Tigers’ back-to-back defeats to Wright State and Texas State at the Myrtle Beach Invitational did take some air out of their sails.
No, there’s no shot at a two-bid Ivy this year, despite what you may have heard. But just as Saturday’s result could be a critical moment in Rutgers’ season, it could be a turning point for the Tigers, who face Akron and Division III Kean before jumping into league play.
I asked Henderson one thing he’d like his players to take away from this victory into the rest of the season.
“It’s not just a win. It’s a big win. And there’s no going back,” Henderson said. “The guys hear me say that a lot, but there’s no going back for us. It’s time for us to understand the importance of what we are and own this and not allow it to be a flash in the pan. There’s no going back for us.”
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Cutting it there for today! What a pair of Saturday games to send us into the holiday break. Now it’s time to recover. This newsletter will be off until Dec. 31. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!