Princeton pounds Dartmouth in Ivy home finale

By Andrew Hefner (@Ahef_NJ)

PRINCETON, N.J. — Although Princeton has already been eliminated from Ivy Madness contention, the story of the Tigers is just starting, at least as far as Mitch Henderson is concerned.

Princeton, one of the youngest teams in Division I, did not even get to hold a senior night for its last home game of the season against Dartmouth on Saturday, as no seniors rostered meant no need for celebration. The future is bright, and the hope for many in central New Jersey is that the Tigers will get the chance to run it back next season with a more experienced squad. 

First, though, Princeton got the chance to play spoiler Saturday, taking down Dartmouth, 82-61, eliminating the Big Green from Ivy Tournament contention to end the 2025-26 home slate. 

“I can’t remember when we won last,” said Henderson, “Nice to get that. They deserve it. They played well, I thought, and that’s a good Dartmouth team.”

Princeton had not won in five straight Ivy matches, the most recent of which was a detrimental one-possession loss the night prior to Harvard, a game in which the Tigers at one point led by 17 points. The bounce-back thrust Harvard into second place in the Ivy League, but caused Princeton to fall out of a chance for a top-four spot in the Ivy, effectively ending its season as soon as the schedule comes to a close next week. 

Dartmouth, which entered Saturday just a place above Princeton in the standings after a loss to Penn the night before, needed either a win or a Cornell loss to stay alive, two scenarios that were not in the cards for the Big Green. Dartmouth did manage to start the game with some fire, though, taking a quick 7-1 lead over the home team, but quickly lost momentum as the first half chugged along. Juniors Jackson Hicke and Dalen Davis, two of three upperclassmen for Princeton, quickly caught the Tigers back up to the fast-paced Dartmouth offense, before sophomore Peyton Seals hit a huge three to tie the game for the first time since the tip. Seals picked up a career-high 20 minutes of action against Harvard on Friday, and has become a recent favorite of Henderson off the bench when big defensive stops are needed for Princeton. 

“He’s never stopped working, ever,” said Henderson of Seals. “He was in early today, playing his music in the gym by himself at 11, something like that. He was in early the other day, working on his post moves. He’s always working. I haven’t played him, my decision, and he’s been ready for his opportunities. He was terrific.” 

“Just getting more minutes, you get a better feel out there, get comfortable playing with the other guys,” Seals added. “So it definitely makes a difference when you’re out there for longer.”

Seals will no doubt be a major part of a strong returning Princeton class next season, as the sophomore has worked hard as of late to slot himself into a system that has been constantly shifting as the season progressed for the Tigers. 

“Obviously the season hasn’t been perfect or gone exactly the way we wanted it to go, but we definitely had some bright spots,” Seals said. “And without losing any seniors, we’re going to build on the bright spots that we have had this last week and going into next year because we’ve got the same group coming back, and it is a good group, and we all believe in each other.”

Improvements for Princeton came quickly as the game progressed, though. Davis and Hicke kept the scoring coming for the Tigers and two separate 10-0 runs put Henderson’s side ahead, 39-20, with just a few minutes left in the first half. Mixed in the scoring was key defensive and effort against the glass from a third junior, Jacob Huggins, who has been one of the strongest members of the Princeton team as of late. Huggins, like Seals, has earned himself many more minutes and starts as of late, amid the injuries and tough stretch, and has taken full advantage of his newfound opportunities. 

“We’ee sad to see the rest of our teammates, their season come to a conclusion,” said Huggins. “I think that's how it is at first, seeing Jack (Stanton) go down and CJ (Happy). It was rough, but everybody’s been stepping up and we continue to have good practices and kind of a next-man-up mentality, and for those who have played, be able to bring them into the group and give them energy and confidence to go out there and be confident in themselves.” 

Huggins finished the night with his first career double-double against a Division I opponent, and played key defense alongside Seals that kept Princeton ahead by double digits for much of the night. 

“Yeah, first, like, Jacob, a double-double is a big deal,” said Henderson. “Seeing number 12 go up there with two hands, and then also defensively, he provides, he just changes things for us on the defensive end, but I like what he just said because the most important thing with Jacob is that his energy is very contagious and all kinds of energy, but he is beloved on the team, and he doesn't love it, maybe, but he’s like a spirit animal, and when he’s great, his spirit is up, we’re up, and that’s a really cool thing in life to have that.”

Princeton rounded out the first half with a 43-28 lead on 58 percent shooting and 67 percent from three, numbers that have greatly improved as the season progressed for the Tigers. The second half started in a similar fashion with back-to-back treys by freshman Landon Clark, who reached 14 total points by the final buzzer. Hicke, Davis, and Huggins continued to get involved as well, extending a Princeton lead to as much as 23 while Dartmouth attempted to work its way back into a game that seemed out of its hands since very early in the game.

Unlike the game with Harvard, Princeton was able to carry its lead all the way to the end, adding consistent scoring before eventually checking in much of the bench in the final minutes as everyone took in their final home minutes of the season.

Hicke finished the night with 22 points and seven rebounds, continuing to cement himself as one of, if not the best raw talent on the Princeton squad, and he has only improved as the season progressed. Davis, who missed nine games this year with a leg injury, added 20 points and six assists of his own as well. 

Missing star guard Jack Stanton and CJ Happy for the end of the season certainly put a damper on the late Princeton push towards an Ivy Madness berth, but players and coaches alike of the black and orange remain clearly optimistic for what is ahead after a well-deserved summer break. 

“We were a couple juniors, a lot of underclassmen,” said Huggins. “Coach has told us the whole year what it takes to win in this league. I think at the beginning of the season, we really didn’t know that,  but now at the conclusion of the year, we have a way better understanding of what it’s going to take moving forward, and we’re just going to try to continue to get better so we can improve for next year.”

Princeton heads on one last road trip next weekend to Yale, a team it has beaten once before in 2026, but an extremely tough matchup nonetheless. 

“It’s really just, like, experience,” said Henderson of Princeton’s improvements as of late. “We’ve tried not to talk about this, but I don't think we’re that experienced. We’re learning what it’s going to take, and we have another opportunity to play against Yale, who is now the first-place team in the league, next weekend. I would hope that we would have an awesome week because that’ll take everything we’ve got.”

This will be the first season that Princeton misses Ivy Madness since its inception, yet Henderson remains unfazed by the end of the season coming sooner than expected.

“I think about next year an awful lot, but I’ve learned over time that you can't waste the present moment,” he said. “We have one more week with the team. I’ve had really good seasons where you kind of just want the season to be over, and I’ve never had a season like this. I wish we could keep playing. It’s a really good group and they like each other, and it’s  contagious. They’ve taught us a lot, and I would hope that, as Peyton (Seals) said, we have everybody coming back because maybe we’re the third-youngest team in the country. And then all of a sudden, you’d be the only team in the country bringing everybody back, maybe, which is insane.”