After recent wins at Jadwin Gymnasium this weekend, both of Princeton’s basketball teams remain undefeated at home. Home games bring many advantages, including the presence of the band, the cheer team, and thousands of fans in the stadium built for Tiger victories — and recent games have seen the largest crowds flock to Jadwin in over a decade.
With the Ivy League championship fast approaching, The Daily Princetonian looked how the electric atmosphere inside Jadwin at home games has shaped the Tigers’ success, from the thousands of fans to the plaid-wearing Princeton University Band to the cheer team — all of which will be present at the upcoming tournament in New York. This season, the teams will not have the home-court advantages they had at last year’s Ivy Madness, when both the men’s and women’s teams secured Ivy titles. This year, they will be playing at Columbia’s Levien Gymnasium.
Thus far this season, the women’s team has shot significantly better from the field when at home than away, with the men’s team seeing a small improvement. The women’s squad has shot 48.5 percent from the field when under the dome at Jadwin and 44.2 percent while on the road, with these figures being 46.4 percent and 45.1 percent for the men, respectively.
From the charity stripe, the men have sunk 83.4 percent of their shots at home and 79.3 percent when away. For the women, the reverse was true, with their free throw percentage being 70.2 percent when at home and 71.6 percent while away. Both teams make within one percentage point of their three-point shots when comparing home and away games.
Attendance at Saturday’s men’s game vs. Cornell highest since 2010, most attended victory since 2002
Recent men’s home games have been some of the most attended in over a decade. The game against Cornell on March 2 was the highest that ESPN recorded since 2010, with 5,409 fans in attendance. Since there are 6,854 seats in Jadwin Gym, this occupancy accounted for 79 percent of seats filled.
The last time this many fans streamed into Jadwin for a men’s game was during another matchup against Cornell on Feb. 13, 2010, when ESPN recorded 5,775 fans filling the stands in Jadwin. Much like the Tigers’ Saturday thriller, the game was a nail-biter — but unlike Saturday, Cornell emerged victorious with a final score of 48–45.
At the time, the ‘Prince’ reported that the crowd’s atmosphere was “electrifying,” with then-senior center Zach Finley telling the ‘Prince’ postgame that “it was special to see a crowd like that, to see that many people out … I’ve definitely never seen it like that.”
This 2010 game was the most attended men’s game since Feb. 10, 2004, when the Tigers fell 52–67 to the Penn Quakers — the last time men’s attendance crossed 6,000. Princeton lost both of those highly attended games. Saturday’s victory against Cornell was the most attended men’s home game that Princeton won since the Tigers hosted the Yale Bulldogs at home on Feb. 22, 2002, when ESPN recorded that all seats in Jadwin were occupied. Princeton beat Yale 59–46.
Games towards the end of the season, during conference play, tend to be more highly attended than those at the beginning. Jadwin is the second-largest on-campus college basketball arena in New Jersey, seating students opposite the team benches to provide optimal advantages for the home team crowd.
“When we shoot them, it’s quiet, and when they shoot them, it gets real loud,” senior guard Matt Allocco said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’ “I think it definitely plays a part in it. I think they missed a couple big ones to win the game, and I’ll credit our fans for that,” referrencing the team's win against Cornell.
Band’s wish for basketball success granted by plastic Santa
The Princeton University Band, known for their plaid orange and black suits and plastic Santa, has attended 14 basketball games so far this season, evenly split between the men’s and women’s teams. The scramble band, made up of 25 to 35 undergraduate and graduate members, aims to bring spirit to the games and rile up the crowd, encouraging them to show their Princeton spirit.
“I think just being able to feed into that spirit and have a lot of fun, get into the game, and just support the team is ultimately our goal,” drum major Kate Voltz ’26 said.
A signature of the band is its “garbussion” instruments, combining trash and tchotchkes with traditional percussion instruments.
“Whether the stadium is full or empty, if the band is there, the spirits are very high,” band president Megan Hannon ’25 said. “Everyone is so happy to see us there.”
One advantage the band may provide to the Tigers is distracting the opposing teams, especially during free throws, where the band makes an effort to be especially loud. Both men’s and women’s average opponent free throw percentages were lower at home games in Jadwin Gym.
The band also will count down the shot clock incorrectly.
“We don’t know if they’re messing up because they just messed up, but we like to believe,” Hannon said.
Band, armed with balloons, dances to a sold out crowd.
Ammaar Alam / The Daily Princetonian
Cheer team attends all but three home games this season
“Because Jadwin has a really intimate environment, we’re really able to connect with the fans and be present and make a lot of noise,” Head Cheerleading Coach Claudia Ralph said.
The cheer team has been to every home game this season besides the three men’s games during winter break. The cheer team is made of 21 bases, backs, and fliers who are all in attendance for the majority of home basketball games. Only the cheer team has attended a neutral site game, one of three played between the two teams this season.
“Cheering the way that we want to cheer is always having plans for March Madness,” Ralph said. “The NCAA thresholds for neutral site games, so even last year, when we hosted the Ivy League tournament, we could only bring 12 cheerleaders … We have scenarios where, you know, one team makes it or both teams make it — last year we learned that that was a scenario that we needed to prepare for.”
While not a varsity sport, the cheer team is housed within the athletic department. The team cheers primarily at football and basketball games as well as select events of other sports.
Band and cheer team jointly attend all women’s games and all but one men’s games at home
This season, both the band and cheer squads have been in attendance at nine games. While the squads do not jointly plan which games they will attend, they have practiced together for timeouts when they are both in attendance. This year, the cheer team and the band have coordinated on certain timeouts in an attempt to further excite the rowdy energy in Jadwin Gym. At certain points throughout the game, the cheer team dances to the Princeton Cannon Song, which the band plays for them.
Voltz said the band and cheer team are “like two sides of the same coin,” noting that the cheer team is “more peppy fun” while “we are chaotic fun.”
The band has only been in attendance at one basketball game without the cheer team this season — the men’s basketball game against Bryn Athyn on Dec. 13. The Tigers won 92–40 — coincidentally their biggest win this season.
“We’re really fortunate that we cheer for such talented basketball teams and that we do have the opportunity to accompany them and cheer them on at an Ivy Madness,” Ralph said.
“[We’re very happy] that we’re here in this very historic time in Princeton basketball history, like that’s incredible,” Hannon said.
The band and cheer team will be joining both men’s and women’s basketball at Ivy Madness in New York City beginning on March 15.
“They’re supporting just like everybody else,” Allocco said. “You know, they [band and cheer] do a great job and they’re loud and they get rowdy. So we appreciate everything they do.”
Andrew Bosworth is a head Data editor and Sports contributor for the ‘Prince.’
Vincent Etherton is a contributing Data writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please direct any corrections requests to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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