Underrated hoops rivalry with Rutgers continues tonight

The rivalry between Princeton and Rutgers dates back to Nov. 6, 1869, when the two teams met in the first intercollegiate football game ever played. It extends to the cannon that now lies muzzled down in Cannon Green behind Nassau Hall. That cannon has been claimed by both schools but has been at Princeton for approximately the last 150 years.

While the two schools no longer meet on the football gridiron, the Tigers and Scarlet Knights continue to do battle almost every year on the basketball court.

"Students at both schools should feel fortunate that they have a non-conference rivalry like this," head coach Joe Scott '87 said. "They don't exist in college basketball anymore because teams are afraid of playing [tough schedules]. That attitude doesn't exist here or up the road."

Tonight, Princeton will host their closest rivals — about 17 miles north on Route 1 — in the 111th basketball meeting between these two schools. Princeton leads the series with a 71-39 record, with the first meeting coming in 1917. The Tigers, coached by Fred Leuhring at the time, won the game 41-14.

A few things have changed since then. For starters, Rutgers now generally scores more points than the sixth and seventh grade boys that I coach. Also, Rutgers is no longer a pushover for its more famous southern neighbor.

Legacy

The Scarlet Knights have won five straight games against the Tigers, the longest such streak by either team in this series since 1973-1976, when Rutgers established that record. In fact, for all of the accomplishments of former head coach John Thompson '88 — three Ivy League titles and two NCAA tournament appearances — one thing Thompson did not accomplish was beating Rutgers.

He was the first and only Princeton coach since John Jeffries to not beat the Scarlet Knights. You can't remember John Jeffries? Don't be upset. Jeffries coached the Tigers for only one season, during the 1934-1935 campaign. Princeton lost to Rutgers, 37-25, that year.

Scott is certainly hoping to avoid the same fate as his predecessor. Scott has enjoyed a great deal of success against "the school that unsuccessfully tried to steal our cannon twice" in the past. As a player, under legendary head coach Pete Carril, he helped lead the Tigers to a 3-1 record against Rutgers. This included a close 72-68 win for the 1986-1987 squad, a team Scott captained.

On a side note, does Carril's name now permanently include the word legendary? It doesn't seem right to just say Pete Carril.

Scott continued that success when he returned to Princeton in 1992 as an assistant coach under Carril. Despite losing to Rutgers in his first year back, Scott then helped lead the team to six wins in the next seven meetings. The two teams did not meet during the 1995-1996 season.

"I grew up watching these two teams play in the early '70s," Scott, a New Jersey native, said.

Princeton's last win in the series came during the 1999-2000 season, when they beat Rutgers, 66-60, in Bill Carmody's last season as coach.

Local following

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Students at Princeton tend to ignore this as one of the University's main rivals. Instead, Princetonians focus on Penn as our main basketball rivals, and Harvard and Yale (Sucks!) as our academic rivals. For the locals who live in this area, however, Princeton and Rutgers is a very legitimate and respected rivalry.

"This game has a lot of local following; the people of New Jersey have always come out for this game," assistant coach Mike Brennan '94 said. "It's always been important to [members of the Princeton basketball community] because it gives us a chance to play a Big East School," Brennan added. "It was important [when I played] and it's just as important now."

One of the reasons that this rivalry matters to the people in this area is that Princeton and Rutgers have played a number of important games over the years. Perhaps none was more important than when the two schools met in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 1975. Playing in Providence, R.I., the Scarlet Knights edged the Tigers, 54-53, to advance in the tournament. Rutgers had run the table in the regular season, going 27-0, and used this win to propel itself to an eventual Final Four berth.

While tonight's game might not carry the same significance, or mean much to the average Princeton student, that does not mean the rivalry is dead. It is alive After all, we still have the cannon.