It was a season that began with amazing possibilities for the men's basketball team. While other teams were adding inexperienced freshmen, the Tigers were welcoming back two proven scorers to a team that won a share of the Ivy title.
Junior forward Andre Logan was back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee that caused him to miss the entire conference schedule. In addition, junior forward Spencer Gloger transferred back to Princeton after spending a year at UCLA.
Fate was not on Princeton's side however, as after three games Logan was sidelined for the remainder of the season and Gloger went down with an ankle injury on Feb. 14 before being declared academically ineligible midway through the conference schedule.
The Tigers finished 16-11 overall, and 10-4 in the Ivy League. Princeton lost two games to both Penn and Brown to finish in third place in the conference standings.
Princeton started its season early with an exhibition trip to Spain in August. The Tigers went 6-1 over the 12-day trip against professional competition.
In November the team began its season in earnest with a non-conference schedule. This was filled with some great highs and some missed opportunities.
The team lost its home opener to Florida International, 68-65 in overtime, and then found itself tied with lowly Monmouth 57-57, and staring at another overtime with .7 seconds left.
Sophomore guard Will Veneble inbounded the ball to junior guard Ed Persia from under Princeton's basket. Persia, caught it, turned, and heaved a 75-foot missile down the floor that hit hard off the backboard and through the net. The miracle shot was the Sportscenter top play of the day.
Three games later, Princeton traveled to Austin, Texas, for its lone nationally televised game of the year, a meeting with the Longhorns.
The Tigers came so close to pulling off another upset in the program's storied history. Princeton matched Texas, a team that would go on to make the Final Four, shot for shot in the second half. The Longhorns finally pulled off a 57-54 win.
As the Ivy season got underway, things in Tiger nation were looking positive. Penn, clearly the most talented team in the league suffered some bad non-conference losses, and while Brown had a great record, their level of competition was not as high.
Princeton opened with four straight league wins before competing against rival Penn.
The Tigers hung tough with the Quakers early in the second half, but Ivy league player of the year Ugonna Onyekwe took over late and led Penn to a 65-55 win.
Princeton fell two games behind Penn the following weekend after losing to Brown at Jadwin Gym in a game in which Gloger became injured. The Tigers did rebound to beat Yale the next night. At the halfway point of the season, Princeton found itself down but far from out in the Ivy League chase. The Tigers were two games behind league leading Penn and a game back of Brown.
However, the day the team was leaving for games at Dartmouth and Harvard it was announced that Gloger was academically ineligible and that he was no longer with the team. At the time, Gloger, though injured, was leading the team in scoring at 15.7 points per game, and rebounding with 5.7 per contest.
The team refused to quit, and showed incredible resolve in beating both the Big Green and Crimson. The entire team rallied to pick up its game, with senior captain and guard Kyle Wente and senior forward Ray Robins leading the way. Sophomores, forward Judson Wallace and guard Will Venable, also looked to score more often. At the end of the year, Robins, Wallace, and Venable were averaging double figures in points per game.
The following weekend, the Tigers' hopes of an Ivy title and a trip to the NCAA tournament took a major hit. After defeating Yale on the road, Princeton took the floor against Brown.
The Bears shot almost 70 percent from the floor in the second half and hit all five of their three point attempts en route to an 88-74 win.
Despite wins over Cornell and Columbia, Princeton hosted Penn in the last game of the Ivy season with nothing but pride on the line.
The Tigers played valiantly but luck was not on their side. The season ended with a loss, no Ivy title, no tournament bid, and no Logan or Gloger.
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