I think this game shows why Davis should stay. A high major team would have benched him after his cold start. But on this team, he was allowed to keep playing and shooting.
I think Davis is an elite talent who has
willingly deferred to others and the system.
I am hopeful he will stay, and think he may
get more usage in the Ivies.
Classic āugly winā: just 5 points off TOs (vs. 12 for the Zips), just 3 second chance points (vs. 11), out-rebounded 37-29, 11-18 FTs, 7-20 3FGs. Oh, and only 8 mins from Caden Pierce.
Yet they found their mojo in the last 5 minutes, out scoring Akron 16-7 to somehow pull it out by a point, thanks to Dalen Davisās clutch pigeon-toed trey.
Glass half full: Princeton has a lot of ways to win and different players have emerged to make a difference (Hicke today, with Scott and Huggins also making some big plays down the stretch).
Glass half empty: This is a talented and scrappy but frustrating squad that fought to the end but did not look like the better team for the vast majority of the game.
Hoping Caden is OK and that in Ivy play the team finds a way to hunker down and impose their talent and will before they are on the brink of defeat.
For anyone wondering if Dalenās game-winner was really a 3 or if we just got lucky, hereās the answer:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DEN39nDSDsy/
It was clearly a 3! By half an inch. No bad karma here.
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Based on the comments on Instagram, that photo was shown to the refs!
One of the weirdest games Iāve seen in a while. Even during the comeback in the last quarter of the game it never really felt like the Tigers were on a ārun.ā Just clawing closer, falling back a bit, clawing closerā¦Very happy for DD to get that winning shot, for Hicke to play his guts out, Lee to hold up his end, etc.
But man, this team is so odd so far. For much of this and other games they not only donāt run anything like a āPrinceton offense,ā they donāt run any sort of coherent offense. Spacing is weird, the ball sticks, players stand around, and some hero ball either does or does not work in the last few seconds of the shot clock. They donāt look for or take enough treys given their shooting prowess (Peters, Lee, Byriel, Davis, etc.)āwhereās the old flare screen pass we saw for the last few years, at the very least?
Defensive effort is up and down; when they are getting deflections and steals and making it hard on the ball handler, they look pretty good, especially when they remember to be physical and block out on the defensive boards. For their size, theyāre surprisingly good at challenging shots under the rim. But those stretches of bad defensive effort are so hard to watch.
To give a picture of how weird all this is, Princeton is below Rutgers and Saint Josephs on KenPom but way above Texas State and Wright State. I wonder if MH is struggling with enforcing discipline given the larger environment of college basketball. But no one can question the teamās fight or resilience.
Your second paragraph says it all regarding offense.
Generally they have only two 3-point threats on the floor at one time (Since Byriel and Hicke have limited minutes). Best way to defend this team is a sort of ātriangle and twoā, clogging up the paint and playing the three point shooters tight man to man. Rutgers, especially in the first half, left the paint wide open.
That was a hot mess of a game with sloppy offensive play and glaring defensive lapses by both teams. Without Cade on the floor, the Tigers really looked flummoxed on offense until the end of the game. Weāve seen the Tigers lose their mojo without Cade on the floor twice before that I can remember, when Cade fouled out of last yearās St. Joeās game and when he got dinged up and played fewer minutes in the Sweet Sixteen game against Creighton. This time, the Tigers rose to the occasion late in the game for a thrilling, gritty win. Letās hope Caden recovers fully within the next few weeks. Go Tigers!
Cadenās injury looked really bad upon replay. Looked like the Akron big landed on Pierceās ankle, bending it 90 degrees (at least it was inward). Iām shocked he even came back for a minute and scored a layup. Hopefully, thatās a sign it wasnāt too serious.
I wonāt be surprised if he misses the Harvard game too. That would give him almost 3 weeks to recover with the next game, Dartmouth, a full week after that.
Low ankle sprain from Mass General Brigham: āA grade 1 sprain can take one to three weeks for recovery, while a grade 2 can take three to six weeks, and a grade 3 or a high ankle sprain recovery can last several months.ā
Would need MRI to classify.
Have not seen any updates on Pierceā¦there is usually radio silence on these matters until the pregame press releaseāor even later.
FWIW in related injury news, Skye Belker sat against LeMoyneā¦not that there was any danger of the team losing without her. Iād expect her to play vs. Cornell Saturday. Good to get everyone healed up to the extent possible before the league games start.
The Pierce injury was pretty bad-looking on the replay. It almost seemed like a self-defense manual for how to disable an attacker with a stamp kick to the ankle.