By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
When he looks down his bench this year, Mitch Henderson knows he has a luxury a lot of coaches in the Ivy League don’t have.
“We have a group between Devin (Cannady) and Myles (Stephens) and Alec Brennan and Jackson Forbes, who gave us solid minutes tonight, we have a lot of ways we can go,” Henderson said after his Princeton University men’s basketball team had defeated Brown, 77-66, for its sixth straight win.
“When we watch practice that’s the best indication of being a good team because they are very competitive. You can have a good team and the first team wins all the time. That’s not the case with us. Our first group is not necessarily dominating. And even less so now as we get further along in the year. I feel very comfortable with what our bench brings.”
The bench accounted for 21 points in the win over Brown as the Tigers improved to 18-5 overall and 8-1 in the Ivy League. A weekend sweep of Yale and Brown left Princeton at the top of the standings, tied with 9-1 Yale in the loss column.
The Tigers handed Yale its first Ivy loss of the season on Friday with a 75-63 win. Cannady led the Tigers with 20 points, while Spencer Weisz added 15. In the win over Brown the next night, Henry Caruso and Steven Cook led a balanced Princeton offense with 14 points apiece.
“You are always a little concerned with the Saturday game after a Friday game that is so meaningful in the league,” Henderson said after Saturday’s win. “Brown is tough. We were fortunate up at their place to get out to a big early lead. Here it was a different story. I was pleased with the win. We have a lot to work on but the guys are willing and ready to get after it.
“I thought tonight was the first time I have seen in months with this group where we were a little casual. Maybe we rested on our laurels a little too much. But I believe they know that and it wasn’t on purpose. Maybe it was a little too much human nature.”
Cannady, a freshman, is second on the Tigers in scoring while coming off the bench. Stephens, another freshman, has been contributing more and more over the past few weeks. He had eight points in the win over Yale and added six in the win over Brown.
The Lawrenceville resident, who attended the Pennington School as a freshman and sophomore, has started to feel more comfortable in his role off the bench and his production has increased with that comfort.
“Coming off the bench I am just trying to bring energy to the team defensively and offensively,” said Stephens, who is averaging 5.0 points a game for the season. “I am trying to make plays for my teammates. It has taken a little while. At the beginning of the year it took me some time to figure out my place. But I am figuring it out. Defensively it is what gets me started and then offensively the game comes to me. I am learning game by game and we are all learning to play together and make the right passes to each other and create shots.”
Henderson has seen what Stephens and the other freshmen who come off the bench can do to help the Tigers and has been thrilled with the production.
“He gets better every game,” Henderson said. “It has been fun to watch him. As a group, they don’t play like freshmen and they don’t act like freshmen. This league tends to reward teams that have been there and been through it. Myles and Devin and Noah (Bramlage) and even Elias (Berbari), our other freshman, are eager learners and are catching on fast.”
Stephens grew up a Princeton fan and has enjoyed being part of a team that is in the mix for an Ivy title.
“I grew up in Lawrenceville and used to come to games a lot,” Stephens said. “I came to camp here when I was in fifth and sixth grade. So I grew up a Princeton fan.
“It’s unreal coming in my first year and knowing that we have a chance to go to the tournament. We just have to focus on ourselves and do what we have been doing and not let anything get to our heads. As long as we are playing hard and we’re focused on the details that help us win I think we’ll be good.”
The Tigers will host Columbia, who they defeated in overtime two weeks ago, on Friday and Cornell on Saturday. Both games are 6 p.m. starts at Jadwin Gym. The rematch with Columbia, which is 8-2 in the league, will go a long way towards determining the league Ivy champion.
“They had us and we were really fortunate, just like Penn,” Henderson said. “They are a really solid team and we are going to have to be much sharper. I think we’ll be ready.”
