The alarm bells are ringing in Old Nassau.
What was once a 2–0 Ivy start for Princeton men’s basketball (8–17 overall, 4–6 Ivy League) has unraveled into a 4–6 mark following consecutive home losses to Cornell (12–11, 5–5) and Columbia (15–9, 4–6).
“Our discipline has been really important to us and it’s just been evaporating,” head coach Mitch Henderson ’98 told The Daily Princetonian.
The Tigers are now seventh in the league standings and clinging to faint postseason hopes with no margin for error remaining.
Henderson’s squad was hit with difficult news earlier in the week when sophomore guard Jack Stanton’s injury last week against Penn was confirmed to be a broken foot.
Stanton, who was averaging 10.9 points per game on 31 minutes per night, will miss the remainder of the season.
“He’s so much for us off the court as well as on,” Henderson said. “Stanton was a terrific leader, so we’re gonna miss his voice.”
Cornell’s early surge buries Tigers
On the same day former Tiger standout Caden Pierce ’26 announced his decision to transfer to Purdue, Princeton was routed by Cornell at home in a game that felt decided within the opening five minutes.
“They’re really good. They got us,” an upset Henderson told the ‘Prince’ postgame.
“They thumped us,” he later said.
Princeton has now lost five of the last six contests to Cornell and is the only Ivy League team that has yet to beat Cornell under head coach Jon Jacques. The last four losses have come by an average margin of over 20 points.
After sophomore forward Malik Abdullahi opened the scoring, the visitors went on a 15–2 run fueled by three triples to take a 15–4 lead at the first media timeout. Cornell made its first five shots from the field while the Tigers went just one-for-seven from the field.
Out of the media timeout, the Princeton offense started to get going with threes from junior guard and captain Dalen Davis and first-year guard and forward Sebastian Whitfield.
However, they were unable to contain the Cornell offense, which went up 29–18 and prompted a timeout by Henderson.
At halftime, Cornell held a 44–27 lead, fueled by several first-half scoring runs. The Big Red shot 54.8 percent from the field.
The second half was much of the same. Even after the Tigers cut the Big Red lead to 14 with under 10 minutes remaining, it took Cornell under two minutes to go on an 8–0 run and put the game out of reach.
Cornell — the most efficient offense in the Ivy League — shot nine-for-17 from beyond the arc en route to a blowout win at Jadwin. Cornell guard Jake Fiegen led his team with 20 points without a miss.
“He’s a terrific player,” Henderson told the 'Prince,' speaking about Fiegen.
When asked about his young core, Henderson said he “likes the group a lot” and added that he’d “love to see them stay.”
“That’s for down the road,” he continued.
“We just couldn’t find ways to get stops”: Tigers fall to Columbia
Following the demoralizing loss to Cornell the night prior, the weekend continued to decline for men’s basketball as they fell short to the Columbia Lions (15–9, 4–6) on Saturday night at Jadwin.
The game marked Columbia’s first win at Jadwin since 2014, ending the Tigers’ streak of home dominance over the Lions. As the seventeeth loss of the Tigers’ season, it is the most the team has had in the Henderson head coaching era.
Down by four early in the game, junior guard Dalen Davis sent a lob to sophomore forward Malik Abdullahi, who slammed it home, energizing the hometown crowd.
Later, freshman forward Landon Clark made good from beyond the arc to give Princeton their first lead of the game at 12–10.
The Tigers made only three three-pointers on an uncharacteristically low 13 attempts. This season, the Tigers have averaged eight-point-four made threes per game.
Additionally, Henderson cited that offensive struggles were rooted in a one-on-one focused style of play.
“We only had five assists tonight,” Henderson said to the ‘Prince.’ “That’s never part of the game plan.”
While Princeton held a narrow 31–30 lead at the half, the Tigers couldn’t maintain their footing going into the second half.
Davis would open the second half with a mid-range jumper, but from there, Columbia crawled back to take the lead. A three from Columbia’s Kenny Noland put the Lions up 42–36.
Despite being held to just three three-pointers in the first half, Columbia started to heat up from deep coming out of the break, shooting 70 percent in the second half, finishing 10-for-21 from beyond the arc.
After Columbia made another three, the Tigers found themselves down 57–46, prompting Coach Henderson to call a timeout and regroup.
“We just couldn’t find a way to get stops,” Henderson told the ‘Prince.’
Though Princeton would pull within five points with just over two minutes to go, Columbia made a big three to keep the Tigers at bay, leading eventually to a 75–65 Tigers loss.
“When you’re trying to get back in the game, and they make a play like that, you tell yourself ‘next-play,’ but obviously you feel it a little bit,” Abdullahi said to the ‘Prince.’
The Tigers will be back in action next weekend against the Brown Bears (8–15, 2–8), who enter the matchup at the bottom of the Ivy standings.
“We’ve gotta go on the road and get a win,” Henderson said.
Hayk Yengibaryan is a head News editor emeritus and senior Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Glendale, Calif. and typically covers breaking news and profiles. He can be reached at hy5161[at]princeton.edu.
Jordan Halagao is an assistant Sports editor for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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