Game Thread: @Akron (11/08/25)

Princeton Tigers
1

Early start time for the season opener tomorrow: 12pm EST. Hope they can get a flight back :grimacing:

I’m prepared for a very rough non-conf slate. But as Brown showed in 2024, you can struggle for most of the season and still have a chance to go dancing.

Play the freshman and sophs plenty. Give Huggins a chance to shine. Find the right pieces to complement Davis.

2

Where is Eric von Zipper with the spread?

3

Looks like it’s Akron -12.5.

4

Starting lineup:

Davis

Stanton

Hicke

Clark

Happy

Interesting to see the freshman get the Opening Day start.

5

And the first turnover.

6

Huggins needs to play 30min+ every game.

7

They have really shut down on Davis.

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8

I already see much more toughness inside. Clark looks good defensively. Stanton shooting confidently. Hicke playing bully ball.

Just not enough shot making and 3-4 easy transition buckets for Akron.

9

Every Princeton pass is contested.

10

I don’t.

11

Oof. Got ugly real quick.

Just gotta take our lumps in non-conf while the freshmen and sophs get their run.

Layups and 3s will eventually fall with more a lot more experience.

12

Davis and Clark shooting WAY off.

13

Clark looks very good outside of the missed 3s. Those should fall in time.

Brutal game for Davis, though. Missing so many wide-open shots he usually makes. And both FTs.

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14

Davis is passing up the jumper to drive into the teeth of the defense.

15

Blowout city, as expected, but I actually like the way the team is playing. They’re battling hard inside, contesting shots, blocking out, grabbing boards and getting good shots. And they’re getting plenty of open looks from 3 and at the rim despite active defense.

But we’re getting literally nothing from our projected lead scorer and Akron is very good (preseason MAC #1).

Again, it’s all about development in non-conf. Just get guys experience and be ready for Ivy play.

16

Ouch. Bigger blowout than even I expected, thanks to Dalen’ 0-10 start. Entire 2nd half was garbage time.

It’s gonna be a horror show non-conf. Just treat these games like extended preseason.

Play loose, don’t worry about the results. Just get more comfortable with each game.

17

We need someone to create off the dribble. Hope it’s Davis.

18

I waited to comment on this massacre after watching it on delay Saturday. I hope all the optimism from the commenters here is well-founded, but I really hated what I watched in this game:

  1. A passive mentality on both ends of the floor, panic with the ball when under any defensive pressure, no overall structure to the offense to give passing outlets or create problems for the defense. Barely a hint of a three-man action throughout (and given the one-on-one weaknesses shown, that approach may be needed to generate good shots).
  2. Getting clobbered in the lane and under the rim defensively, but also leaving wide-open three-point shooters. Pick one to stop, at least.
  3. Little defensive pressure on the ball in the half court and no full-court pressure at all. This team is not going to be able to survive playing “safe” positional defense for 40 minutes given its problems with size and strength. And when it does play that “safe” defensive style, which it probably ought to do for long stretches mixed in with attacking, helping and rotations and/or zone principles need to be a much bigger part of the story.
  4. Happy getting lost out there, not positioned to do what he does best. Stanton trying to make things happen defensively with ball pressure but not getting backed up by the rest of the team. Davis looking discouraged when his shot doesn’t fall.

All of this may just be shake-down cruise problems with all the new faces and roles still being defined and all the freshmen inexperience on display (although some of the extended second-half garbage-time freshman play was pretty good). Clark looked really promising, Hicke was impressive, Stanton looked doughty at least, and there were lots of nice flashes from a lot of players–there’s plenty of talent and skill in this lineup. Huggins looked pretty good IMO, too. It would help a lot if Abdulahi could be more of an interior force.

But yowza, that was an ugly performance by the Tigers.