‘Don’t have any fear’: Princeton takes down Rutgers for N.J. bragging rights
How Princeton won the Jersey Jam, plus notes and takeaways from around New Jersey on opening night of the 2023-24 season.
TRENTON – Zach Martini, a native of Warren in Somerset County, remembers making his first unofficial visit to Princeton during high school and asking Mitch Henderson what many New Jersey sports fans also wanted to know.
“First thing I asked Coach was, why don’t they play Rutgers?” Martini told me last month. “They just said, ‘We can never schedule the game.’ So I’m super happy that we got it scheduled this year.”
The Rutgers-Princeton men’s basketball rivalry, dormant for a decade until Monday night, was indeed on Martini’s mind back then. Growing up close to Piscataway, he rooted for Rutgers football as a kid but leaned toward Wisconsin for basketball because he admired Badgers center Frank Kaminsky. If Martini enrolled at a New Jersey school, beating in-state rivals would be a high priority.
Monday, to begin his final season at Princeton, he not only got his wish to face the state university but started at the five against Cliff Omoruyi.
“Me and him battled throughout high school every year in the state championship,” Martini told me. “We never beat Roselle Catholic – I went to Gill St. Bernard’s. So to get this win would mean a lot to me. I’m really looking forward to it.”
And there was only one way Martini could properly sum things up after he scored 10 points and made two clutch, second-half 3-pointers for the Tigers to beat Rutgers 68-61.
“Personally,” he said, “I wanted this game like nothing else more in my life.”
That says volumes coming from a player whose last competitive game was in the Sweet 16.
The Tigers took advantage of their first opportunity to play Rutgers since December 2013, outrebounding (39-35) and outhustling the Scarlet Knights to lead most of the game and hang on to win amid the noise of a mostly pro-Rutgers crowd.
“I thought that was a heck of a game,” Matt Allocco said after putting up a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds. “The environment — like man, those Rutgers fans, they bring it, they bring it. But our support didn’t back down at all. We definitely heard it, and they’re really good. They’re a load, they frickin’ compete, they’re tough, they rebound, they’re physical. So I credit our guys. They raised their level.”
Henderson did not lose to Rutgers when he played for the Tigers 1994-98. He said he didn’t bring up his own experience in the rivalry when speaking to his men pre-game, but what he did tell them clearly left an impact.
“I told them, ‘Absolutely don’t have any fear. Don’t look at the bench. Just play.’ And they did that,” Henderson said.
Since 2017-18, Princeton has beaten seven teams from high-major conferences: USC, an Arizona State team ranked 17th at the time, South Carolina, Oregon State, both Arizona and Missouri last March and now Rutgers. During that span, star players like Jaelin Llewellyn and Tosan Evbuomwan have had their day, but more than anything Monday’s result reinforces the program’s consistency.
Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell heaped praise on the Tigers while pointing at himself for his team being out-prepared.
“We had no tape of them. Whenever you go into a game like this you like to be prepared, try to do the best you can off of last year’s tape,” Pikiell said. “They changed up a lot of stuff with screen coverage. I give Princeton a ton of credit. They did an unbelievable job, well-coached. They’re a Sweet 16 team, and it’s on me to have our guys more ready.”
Rutgers often looked confused on defense; their rotations in the first half simply didn’t keep up with the speed at which Princeton passed the ball.
“I’ve got to do a much better job of getting us off the gate,” Pikiell said. “They did a couple flare actions that we weren’t as prepared as I’d like to be with it. We probably needed one more veteran defender really against a good basketball team like that, but that’s gonna be an NCAA Tournament team. There’s no doubt in my mind.”
Sometimes, it was far simpler than Princeton trying some intricate concept on offense.
After Princeton had taken its largest lead at 57-47, Rutgers made a final push with eight straight points, culminating in Noah Fernandes going 3-for-3 at the line. The Scarlet Knights got back on defense but apparently weren’t set, as Xaivian Lee decided to take the ball coast to coast. Whether it was a miscommunication with his teammate or a slow reaction time, Omoruyi didn’t seal the lane, and Lee waltzed past for the easiest points of the night.
Lee put up 16 points and five assists in his first collegiate start. He and Blake Peters each went 3-for-6 from the arc.
“As good as (Lee) was offensively, I’m appreciative of how he’s engaging with his teammates and being coached, because there’s just so much (talent) there,” Henderson said.
Princeton improved to 76-45 all-time against Rutgers. Pikiell, to his credit, said he would “absolutely” like the series to continue. So would Princeton’s two seniors; while Martini and Allocco get to graduate with bragging rights, they hope this Jersey Jam can be more than just a one-off.
“I would love to see it,” Martini said. “I’m open to all the Jersey teams competing against each other. This was a phenomenal environment, a great event. There was a lot of red in the crowd, but I think we fed off that.”
………
What a way to tip off a new season. All eight D1 New Jersey programs were in action Monday, and Rutgers was not the only power-conference team who showed it had work to do. (If it’s solace to Rutgers fans, Princeton may not count as a “bad loss” when it comes time to put the tournament resumes together.)
Let’s whip around New Jersey to review the other season-opening results:
Seton Hall 70, Saint Peter’s 59. The Peacocks led by one at halftime and spent 4 1/2 more minutes with a lead than the Pirates did. Kadary Richmond was getting zero help from his teammates until they kicked into gear after halftime. Dylan Addae-Wusu scored all 10 of his points in the second half in his Seton Hall debut. He, Dre Davis and Al-Amir Dawes combined on an 8-0 run after Saint Peter’s took a six-point lead with nine minutes to play.
Shaheen Holloway was not surprised with his former program’s game plan and attitude.
“I told our guys they were gonna scrap and claw and fight, and they did,” Holloway said. “I think for 37 minutes, that’s what they did. They outhustled us. They got all the 50-50 balls, they got all the loose balls. I think the game changed when Dylan finally started playing like Dylan, when he dove on the floor for that loose ball, he went down and scored and started playing. I need that from him.”
Latrell Reid scored 14 points for Saint Peter’s, and Armoni Zeigler, brother of Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler, had 10 in his college debut, making two big 3-pointers in the second half.Fairleigh Dickinson went on the road to beat Buffalo 92-86. This game, high-scoring and decided late, is so reminiscent of Tobin Anderson’s first game last year, when his Knights took Loyola Chicago to overtime in a close loss. The leading man wasn’t one of last year’s biggest stars – Jo’el Emanuel went for 24 points and 11 rebounds on 11-of-16 shooting. Nice start for new head coach Jack Castleberry.
The only other New Jersey men’s team to win Monday was Rider, which took care of Division III Immaculata 113-67. As with their recent exhibition, the Broncs rolled with a starting five of Corey McKeithan, Allen Powell, T.J. Weeks Jr., Mervin James and Tariq Ingraham. Six Broncs scored in double figures. Not much to glean from this game.
George Mason 72, Monmouth 61. Xander Rice gave the Hawks 21 points in his team debut and Jack Collins had 17, going 4-for-5 on 3-pointers. The problem: Monmouth made just 13 of 40 shots from inside the arc.
Finally, No. 13 Miami predictably rolled over NJIT 101-60. Another mismatch you can’t read anything into, like the inverse of the Rider game. Returning guard Adam Hess led the Highlanders with 14 points.
In some women’s season openers, Rutgers held off Monmouth, a tournament team last year, 56-51. North Carolina transfer Destiny Adams gave RU 13 points and a whopping 17 rebounds. Princeton scored just six points in the first quarter before rallying past Duquesne 65-57; Madison St. Rose went off for 26 points to lead the comeback, making two crucial 3-pointers late. Joining her, Kaitlyn Chen and Ellie Mitchell in the starting lineup were freshman Skye Belker and center Tabitha Amanze, who missed last year with an injury, though neither scored in their college debuts.