Men's Basketball: Tigers knock off Rutgers, fall to Duke

Princeton started off against Rutgers at a brisk tempo, streaking down the court in possession after possession to open a wide 10-2 lead — punctuated by an emphatic dunk from senior forward Kareem Maddox — in the first five minutes of the game. Senior guard Dan Mavraides led the scoring, notching 15 points in the first 20 minutes to help the Tigers to a 44-38 lead at the half.

“[Things] felt pretty good tonight,” Mavraides said. “As a shooter, you have your on-days, and you have your off-days. Today, I would say, was one of my on-days.”

The second half began slowly, but Rutgers’ defense — porous and ineffective in the opening half of the game — began to find its range, forcing multiple turnovers from a less aggressive Princeton squad. The Scarlet Knights took their first lead at 58-57 with 6 minutes, 24 seconds left in the half. The two teams then traded baskets until the score was even at 65-65 in the last minute of regulation.

With less than a second left to play, Rutgers found itself in position to steal away with a victory as forward Dane Miller drove in to the basket against sophomore center Brendan Connolly, trying to seal the win with a layup. Connolly, though, was able to draw a charging foul from Miller and the game was sent into overtime.

The overtime period, like the second half, began at a measured pace: Neither team was able to find the basket until Mavraides sank two free throws late in the first minute of play. Though the two sides remained fairly even for the next few possessions, a three-point shot from Mavraides with 1:49 to go gave the Tigers a 72-68 lead that they maintained until the final whistle blew on Princeton’s 78-73 victory.

“I thought that [the team showed] a lot of guts there,” head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 said. “I was pleasantly surprised. I don’t know if that’ll hold up all year — we have to answer that question. We showed a lot of that [kind of play] last year, but this is a different team, and we have to build our own character and our own identity.”

If Princeton’s game against Rutgers was a display of mental toughness and fortitude, then its matchup against No. 1 Duke was an exercise in futility.

The Tigers, taking on the defending national champions for the first time since 2007, looked jittery and uncomfortable against the Blue Devils, opening the game with a missed jumper and a turnover as Duke gained a 10-2 lead. Princeton was forced to play at a much faster pace than usual throughout the evening: With 78 total possessions, the game was the quickest Princeton has played since 2003.

Though the Tigers at times defended well — the Blue Devils were held to only 17 points in the first 10 minutes of the game — they were consistently plagued by sloppy passing and poor transition play. Princeton turned the ball over 17 times in the first half and 27 times in total, giving Duke multiple opportunities to build its lead and prevent the Tigers from ever gaining a foothold.

“Turnovers really hurt us,” sophomore forward Ian Hummer said. “One thing I’m going to take away from this is we’ve got to take care of the ball.”

Princeton was able to stay within 14 points at the half — the two teams went into the locker rooms with the Blue Devils leading 42-28 — but fell away dramatically in the final 20 minutes of the game as Duke went on multiple scoring runs to make the margin 97-57 with 1:40 remaining. A final three-point attempt from senior guard Bobby Foley fell in the last seconds of the game as the Blue Devils secured their season-opening 97-60 win.

“Obviously, the opportunity to face the defending champ is pretty special,” Johnson said. “We wanted for it to come out differently.”