By Andrew Hefner (@Ahef_NJ)
PRINCETON, N.J. — Since the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University played one another for the first time in the 1902-03 season, the Quakers have held a looming series lead over their Delaware River rivals.
Monday, as Ivy League play began its 2025-26 campaign, the nearly 123-year-old constant came to a close.
Both coaches, Mitch Henderson of Princeton and Fran McCaffery of Penn, took part in the feud as players before returning to coach at their alma maters. But with Monday’s 78-76 come-from-behind victory, Henderson added one more mark to his huge tally, extending his win streak over the Quakers to 14 games after the 253rd meeting between the two schools ended in victory for the host Tigers.
It was not all smooth sailing for Henderson, though, as Princeton (5-11, 1-0 Ivy) quickly fell behind, 6-0, to open play at Jadwin Gymnasium. Penn would later extend its lead to a game-high 14 points as the home side just could not get shots to fall.
Jack Stanton, later one of the heroes of the game for Princeton, came out with guns blazing, but shot just 1-for-5 from beyond the arc in the opening minutes, a trend that continued for much of the Tigers team for the first half. By the end of the opening stanza, in fact, Princeton found itself 2-for-12 on triples and just 7-for-25 on field goals for a suboptimal 28 percent shooting effort.
“You get into those media timeouts anywhere around 10-2 or 8-2, I'm just like, ‘hey, you’re doing great,’” Henderson said. “But I was like, ‘geez’, and (the shots) were flying around. I think the league, the startup of conference play, maybe Dalen (Davis)’s return, we were just maybe a little antsy.”
Dalen Davis, one of the few upperclassmen on Princeton’s squad, suffered a leg injury during a win against Northeastern in November that left him sidelined for much of non-conference play. Luckily for the Tigers, Davis was able to make his return off the bench, and made a difference in a big way.
“That’s probably the longest I’ve been out without playing basketball in my life,” said Davis. “So it was hard mentally, but the guys were improving each and every day. And even though we didn’t get in the win column, I noticed it from the guys, and I was motivated to come back.”
Davis was a huge factor in the second-half comeback for Princeton, ending his night with 19 points and three steals despite a rough start to his night in the first half.
“It’s not just the scoring, that’s awesome,” Henderson of Davis’ impact. “It’s his defense, his ability to get over the ball screens, his competitiveness. We don’t have any seniors, but that’s what seniors do.”
On defense, Davis and junior Jacob Huggins were key to keeping the Tigers in the game throughout the opening frame, as they held a high-scoring Penn team to just 32 first-half points and limited the damage of leading scorer Ethan Roberts, who was making his return from injury as well.
“I said, ‘they’re scoring 90 points per game and we just held them to 32 at the half,’” Stanton recalled as he explained what he told his teammates at halftime. “It’s not all that negative. Even though we played a really bad half, our defense is looking pretty good. And we can clean up a little bit of hard-nosed things, like in rebounds, getting on the floor first. But I think offensively, we were like, ‘it’s going to happen, it’s going to come.’ And that was the first four minutes.”
Stanton and company were definitely quick to clean up, as a Jackson Hicke layup was able to put the Tigers within just eight heading into the locker rooms with a clear momentum shift heading their way. That propulsion certainly carried along with them as they headed out of the locker room. Princeton came alive, shooting an insane 16-for-16 from the field to open the second half, and did not turn over the ball once until there were under nine minutes to play. The consistency put the Tigers ahead in just the first four minutes of the half, and their upward trajectory carried them all the way through the rest of the game.
“We haven’t played like that,” said Henderson. “But (Davis) is back the guys have had opportunities without Dalen to get aggressive and learn how to win and score. Stanton and Hicke and all these guys, and now you introduce Dalen back into the mix, 20 minutes, 19 points, then all of a sudden, everything moves a little different.”
“We were feeling it, and then whatever happened at halftime, I certainly didn’t say anything. They figured it out.”
The shooting from the floor obviously improved significantly, key three-pointers were dropping for Princeton to keep growing a lead that seemingly materialized out of thin air. Stanton, who struggled landing a few shots early on, came alive, racking up a career-high 23 points, and alongside CJ Happy, Malik Abdullahi and others, helped make the 16-for-16 run a reality.
“We just pushed the tempo a little bit, and then everything seemed to be open,” Stanton said about the team’s second-half performance. “Then it has an energy, the ball, and the ball’s moving like that. So you can take a really tough shot and it still feels pretty solid to you. I think that’s what we were feeling then.”
Even with an eventual 73-59 lead, a combination of fouls and missed free throws put Penn within one score with under a minute to go. AJ Levine, a sophomore for the Quakers, broke out late, scoring 15 in the game, and seven with under three minutes to play, including a huge three-point play to close the gap all the way to three. Davis and Roberts traded layups before multiple Tigers were sent to the line, before Davis sank a free throw with less than 20 seconds on the clock and a Penn inbound coming. The final shot for Penn went to Levine, but was just off the mark at the buzzer as the tight Princeton defense forced a deep three-point look that just bounced off the rim.
“Thank God that ball didn’t go in,” Henderson joked. “It could have, but it didn’t, and we got a really important win to start the league.”
With the win, Princeton moves to 5-11 on the season and 1-0 in conference play, as well as ahead of Penn for the first time ever in the all-time series, 127-126.
“We’ve had a nice streak going, but they’re really good,” Henderson said of Penn. “But I’m glad we got a little edge. This was the game when I was a player. This was the game. Everything came down to this.”
The Tigers will remain home at Jadwin this week, with their sights set on a big matchup against reigning conference champion Yale on Saturday. With Davis back and a team of young, confident stars ready to make a run for the Ivy crown, Henderson and Princeton are ready for the challenges ahead.
“We are a close-knit group,” Davis explained. “I love these guys. They’re fun to be around, so it’s basketball, and at the end of the day, you want to compete.”
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