By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
For the Princeton University men’s basketball team, the tide started to turn, ironically, with a loss., “The turning point, I have always been telling everybody, was the Monmouth game,” Princeton coach Mitch Henderson said. “We had some significant injuries. Myles (Stephens) went from 20 minutes a game to major minutes. We became a team that was super focused on the defensive end when we went up to Bucknell. I know that was the start of the streak.”, The streak has reached 17 straight wins for the Tigers, culminating with a sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend that left Princeton a perfect 14-0 in the Ivy League heading into this weekend’s inaugural Ivy League tournament., After falling to Monmouth, 96-90, on December 20, the Tigers found a renewed focus on defense. They topped Bucknell, the regular season champion in the Patriot League, 72-70, two nights after the Monmouth loss and haven’t look back. They clinched an outright regular season title last Friday with a 73-69 win over Harvard and then finished off the perfect regular season with a 85-48 win over Dartmouth one night later., “We clinched a share of the title up in Ithaca, but tonight is a special night for us, especially for Steve (Cook) and his fellow seniors because we haven’t had a title here in a little while,” Henderson said after the win over Harvard. “I am really proud of the guys for an outright championship., “That’s a really good Harvard team and we know they’ll be down at the Palestra. Chances are we’ll see them again. I am happy to get the win.”, In any other year the Tigers, 21-6 overall, would have punched their ticket to the NCAA tournament with the 14-0 regular season. Instead, they’ll need two more wins to head to the tournament. They open the Ivy tournament on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against Penn on the Quakers home court. With a win, Princeton would face either Harvard or Yale for the Ivy League tournament title and the bid that goes to the NCAA tournament., “This group has embraced everything we have asked,” Henderson said. “We played the Bucknell game, which was a great win on the road, and then they went home to be with their families and everyone was telling them how good they were. And they came back feeling good and I think that started where we are now. It’s been the defense.”, The Ivy title clinching win came in dramatic fashion against Harvard, with Amir Bell breaking a 69-69 tie on a basket with just 1.1 seconds left. Cook finished the night with a career-high 30 points to lead the way on offense., “I think we knew going in that was going to be a big game,” Cook said. “Princeton-Harvard is always a battle. I was just trying to bring some energy. I thought my teammates did a great job of setting me up. I just took what they gave to me and it ended up working out well.”, Now Princeton will need it to work out well two more times in order to secure its first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2011. The first 14-0 season in the Ivy League since 2008 won’t be enough to get an invite, it’s going to take 16-0., “What’s interesting is it mirrors the league weekends,” Henderson said. “We have experience playing back to backs. Every game is going to come down to four or five plays. I think we’re built for close games. We’ve found a lot of different ways to win.”, And now they’ll need to find two more.
