Princeton clinches final spot in Ivy Madness with dominant showing against Penn

By Andrew Hefner (@Ahef_NJ)

PRINCETON, N.J. — To hunt or be hunted.

That was the theme Saturday following Princeton’s dominant 95-71 win over Penn. 

With the win, the Tigers clinched the last spot in the Ivy League tournament, but unlike previous years, will be on the bottom end of the bracket. 

“I'm happy about it,” said junior Xaivian Lee following the game. “I like to be the hunter and not the hunted, if you will, so I think coming in as underdogs, I think it takes a lot of pressure off. We can just go out there and hoop.”

Lee had an outstanding performance in the matchup against the Quakers, even going so far as to have the second triple-double in his career, and in Princeton’s history, as both belong to the Canadian.

Although he did not score until 12 minutes into the first, Lee was already having an excellent performance, with four assists to open the game. When he did start scoring, however, he made it known with 14 points in the last eight minutes of the first half. In the second, he kept it going, ending with a stat line of 23 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. 

Blake Peters matched Lee’s impact, as the senior put up ten points of his own before ten minutes had even passed off the game clock on the way to a career-high 25 points in his final game at Jadwin Gymnasium, connecting on seven 3-pointers and reaching a milestone with his 200th career triple in the process. 

“He's had to deal with a lot this season, and he’s always been consistent,” head coach Mitch Henderson said of Peters. “I benched him to start the season, brought him into the game, started him, he had 25 tonight. I'm just so humbled and honored to be his coach, and I'm really glad that we got the win tonight.”

“I had three dream schools growing up: Princeton, Michigan, Stanford, and only one of them wanted me,” Peters reflected. “I’ve told so many people, this place has changed my life,
 the program has changed my life. It’s the greatest honor ever to represent Princeton and I hope the way I play is a direct reflection of how I feel about this place.”

Although Penn seemed out of the game just as quickly as it began, Sam Brown—coming off an impressive 42 points again against Columbia last week—did his best to keep the Quakers in it, scoring all 10 of Penn’s points in the last six minutes of the first half. He would end with 19 points while playing a game-high 37 minutes. Even though Brown attempted to win the game himself for Penn, career nights from Peters and Lee led to an impressive and dominant showing from the Tigers. More importantly, Penn and Princeton, a rivalry that began more than 120 years ago, is now tied once again at 126 wins for each side, and the Tigers specifically have won the last 13 straight matchups between the two. The series was last tied in 1905.

“I lost to them four times,” said Henderson about his time playing for the Tigers. “(Lee and Peters) have never lost to them. I think rivalries are really important to acknowledge and talk about.”

Princeton will now look ahead to facing a tough Yale squad next week at Ivy Madness in Providence next Saturday. Princeton fell to Yale on the road last month, 84-57, and 77-70 at home on January 31.

“Penn was Coach's rival and Penn is still our rival,” said Peters. “But as players, we think Yale is our rival and that's always how we approach the games.”

Yale, the regular season Ivy champs and top seed in the tournament, went 13-1 in the Ivy this year and will be a tough competitor for Princeton. Despite the mountainous challenges ahead, the Tigers are ready to take on the Bulldogs for a chance at a second March Madness berth in three seasons.

“We know very well what it's like to be the one seed in this tournament,” Henderson said. “We're gonna have a great week of practice while we're on spring break. We're looking forward to getting up there.”

“We won’t back down from a challenge despite what the scores have been the past couple of weeks,” Peters declared. “We're fully locked in and we’re ready to embrace it.”