Seniors guide Princeton men, women to top of Ivy League once again
Injury concerns weren't going to sideline Matt Allocco or Ellie Mitchell, especially not at this time of year.
PRINCETON – Three hours and change before the Princeton men’s basketball team took the court for Senior Night, Matt Allocco sat by himself in the stands, watching the women’s team warm up for their 4:00 matinee.
Perhaps Allocco was visualizing what was going to transpire that evening. At the time, Princeton considered him a game-time decision because he missed the second half of Friday’s win over Columbia after taking a hard hit from an opponent. But this would be Allocco’s final chance to play at Jadwin Gym; he and classmate Zach Martini were set to be honored in a pregame ceremony; and the winner between the Tigers and Cornell, both 10-2 in the Ivy League, would make a huge stride toward winning the league title.
So of course Allocco suited up to play when the game arrived. Even throughout the brief Senior Night ceremony, Allocco’s mind was on the task at hand.
“I hate to say it, but honestly it was, ‘Stay locked in and win the game,’” Allocco said. “‘Cause we can enjoy all that stuff when we’re done here after the fact. We still have a job to do.”
Princeton defeated Cornell 79-77 in an even and entertaining tussle, meaning the Tigers are now tied for first in the Ivy with Yale with one game ago. Three hours earlier, the Princeton women put away Dartmouth 68-42 to match Columbia at 12-1 atop the standings.
In both cases, Princeton just needs to win its finale to be guaranteed the No. 1 seed in Ivy Madness. If the women tie Columbia at 13-1, with both teams having swept the rest of the league, Princeton wins the tiebreaker based on a higher NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) ranking. If the men wind up at 12-2 with Yale, they’d each have identical records against every opponent down the standings, and the Tigers again win the NET tiebreaker.
In short, Princeton is this close to holding the No. 1 seed in both Ivy Madness brackets for the second time in three years.
And while sophomore Caden Pierce had a tremendous showing Saturday with 23 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals, and sophomore Madison St. Rose had a team-high 12 points as 12 players scored on the women’s side, these programs could not have made it this far without their seniors.
Allocco finished with 19 points, including three 3-pointers and a few huge shots that helped Princeton continue to rally from behind, as it trailed for 27:34 of the game. His third three and two ensuing free throws gave the Tigers a 58-51 lead, their largest of the night, before Cornell pushed back in front.
What Allocco brings to the table as a player is as well-known at Princeton as the leadership he provides, verbally and otherwise. Asked when he knew he’d be ready to play Saturday, Allocco deadpanned, “When the game ended (Friday).”
“It was a little more closer to game time in reality,” Henderson said. “I know Mush doesn’t want anybody to tell him what to do, but we weren’t sure.”
It was Allocco who assisted the go-ahead basket, as well, after Princeton had tied it at 71. Xaivian Lee passed to Allocco near the high post, and as he drove the lane and drew the center’s attention, he slipped a pass to a wide-open Pierce, who was fouled in the process of dunking and electrifying the Jadwin crowd.
“An unbelievable play,” Henderson said. “One of the better executed plays I’ve ever seen. I thought that swung it.”
The only other senior on this team is Martini, and while he missed his first six 3-point shots of the night, that didn’t stop him from taking and making his seventh when the Tigers and Big Red were trading the lead back and forth.
As for the women, they’ll get one more chance to play at home when they hold their Senior Day on Saturday against Penn. Their three seniors are Kaitlyn Chen, reigning Ivy League Player of the Year; Chet Nweke, who earned a starting role midseason and has been a reliable scorer, rebounder and defender the whole way; and Ellie Mitchell.
Mitchell was fighting a bad elbow when Dartmouth arrived on Saturday. You wouldn’t know it from her final stat line: 3-for-3 shooting, six points, six rebounds and two steals in 15 minutes.
“She actually told me this morning when her elbow is a little banged up, ‘I don’t think I’m gonna shoot today,’” coach Carla Berube said. “And then the one day she actually took some outside shots was today, so I don’t know, reverse psychology maybe.
“She’s just a great teammate, and I think just shows the underclassmen, ‘Here’s how we play Princeton basketball.”
Like Allocco and his injury situation, Mitchell wasn’t coming out that easily.
“Basketball, and Princeton basketball especially, has been my world for a very long time,” she said. “… Really trying to make the most of it, play with that much more excitement and just remind the younger ones that they have a lot of years left, but me, Kaitlyn and Chettie, this is gonna be the end for us.”
While Mitchell has always been known as a rebounding machine rather than a high scorer, don’t be surprised if she has a big offensive game sometime this postseason while opponents are worried about guarding Chen and St. Rose. She takes mostly high-percentage shots and has made 56.7 percent this Ivy season.
“It’s always the mindset. Sometimes I kinda forget, if you will, but my teammates and my coaches have a lot of confidence in me,” Mitchell said. “They’re reminding me to shoot the ball, which is always helpful. Also at this point in the season, teams are sagging off sometimes. They know us. So I get some of those openings, so I have to be ready to shoot them.”
Princeton is about to wrap a 2023-24 season that can only be described as magical. The men went 12-0 at home while selling out Jadwin Gym twice, including Saturday. The women are 10-0 at home with one game left to stay perfect, and they’ve drawn some large crowds of their own, particularly against Rutgers, Columbia and Brown.
“I hope that we’re putting a good product on the court that people enjoy watching,” Berube said. “That’s really important to us, that we’ve got young fans excited about women’s basketball, boys and girls. Princeton’s such a great community and if they can come out and watch our team, watch the men’s team or any of our athletic teams, these are some amazing student-athletes, so I hope it keeps growing. Yes, I’ve seen the growth over these four years that I’ve been coaching, and it’s fun. It makes the experience for our student-athletes even better when it’s such a great crowd and they’re into it and there’s screaming 10-year-olds like my son said he was doing (Friday against Harvard) with his friends. He said that he turned the third quarter around for us because that’s when they started screaming at the top of their lungs.”
Berube then pointed to the dozens of alumni who returned for Alumni Weekend.
“They talk about how much they watch our team on ESPN+ and anytime they can get to Jadwin,” the coach said. “They just love watching us play. That’s a huge part of what makes this program so special, is the alumni, and that this is still a piece of their life. I want that for my players, I want them 40 years from now coming back because they had such an amazing experience. There’s such a great legacy here.”
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Friends, welcome to March. 🏀
Selection Sunday is 14 days away. Many conferences’ regular seasons have already ended. These next few weeks are about to fly by.
Seven of New Jersey’s eight D1 men’s teams are still playing, but one wrapped its 2023-24 campaign on Saturday. Let’s start there as we clean the glass:
NJIT’s season is over. By losing their final six games of the regular season, the Highlanders sank to 7-21 and 3-13 in the America East, so they will not make the eight-team conference tournament. There have been a few bright spots, namely handing unsuspecting Vermont its only league loss to date, part of consecutive upsets of the Catamounts and second-place UMass Lowell. Freshman Tariq Francis was a revelation by season’s end, scoring in the twenties eight times and finishing the year with averages of 14.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.5 steals. He’ll be a fantastic player for Grant Billmeier and his staff to build around – if they can keep other schools at bay, that is.
Monmouth won a game on the road! No, really! After a discouraging 12-point loss at Hampton on Thursday, the Hawks finished the regular season Saturday by winning 85-70 at Elon. Xander Rice went for 31 points and all five starters scored at least 10. They finished the season 13-1 at home and 2-13 in true road games.
Neither home nor “true” road games exist the rest of the way. The Hawks head to Washington for the CAA tournament as the No. 8 seed. They wound up in a tie with Delaware and Stony Brook at 10-8 and lost the three-way head-to-head tiebreaker. Monmouth faces No. 9 Campbell on Saturday and would have to play No. 1 Charleston the next day if it advances.Despite beating Wagner 57-54 on the road to finish the NEC season 9-7, FDU only earned the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament and therefore must travel to Le Moyne (also 9-7) for the first round. The good news is FDU just beat Le Moyne there 68-58 a week ago. The other good news: Central Connecticut overtook mighty Merrimack for the No. 1 seed, which may help the Knights avoid the Warriors till the final (though the NEC re-seeds its bracket after the quarters).
FDU trailed Wagner by six with 6:50 to go before ending the game on a 10-1 run for their lowest-scoring win of the year. Jo’el Emanuel, Ansley Almonor and Joe Munden Jr. all scored and Sean Moore later hit the go-ahead free throws.The Rider Broncs still haven’t lost since my visit to Lawrenceville on Feb. 10, turning a 5-8 MAAC mark into 10-8 and a legit shot at a first-round bye in Atlantic City. Mervin James has led them in scoring in each of the past five wins, but one big difference has been more scoring help off the bench; either DJ Dudley, Ruben Rodriguez or JT Langston Jr. has scored at least eight points in every game. And on defense, the Broncs have allowed just 39.3% from the field during this stretch. They’re at Canisius later today before finishing their season Thursday against rival Saint Peter’s.
Dylan Harper’s national letter of intent is signed, sealed and delivered. He and Rutgers announced it Saturday on his 18th birthday, but it was almost certainly finalized during the November signing period. This wait for the announcement apparently left some Rutgers fans worried he was unsigned and vulnerable to poaching by a Duke or a Kansas, but they had nothing to worry about.
Reminder that I’m not going to stick purely to a Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday publication schedule during March. That schedule has served me well most of the season, but it’s also been tiring. And much depends on when Seton Hall, Rutgers et al are playing during conference tournament week and beyond. Here’s what you can expect over the next week:
Tuesday, March 5: New Jersey bracketology, Part V (for paid subscribers)
Thursday, March 7: Focus on Villanova-Seton Hall game
Friday, March 8: Focus on Saint Peter’s-Rider game
Monday, March 11: Conference tournament week preview