There were a lot of nice stat lines in the first weekend of play but setting new career highs in both scoring and rebounding was good enough to earn Will Barrett Ivy League Co-Player of the Week status.
Barrett shares the honor with Dartmouth's Gabas Maldunas.
Min Pts FG FT 3FG Rebs A S B TO PF 33 20 4-9 9-10 3-7 2-7-9 1 2 3 0 2 57-53 W at Buffalo
Fairfield vs. Virginia - 7:00 pm ET - Preseason NIT - ESPN3
Yale vs. St. Joe's - 7:00 pm ET
Penn vs. Delaware - 9:30 pm ET - Preseason NIT
The HD box score for Saturday's game against Buffalo has been added to our recap.
Buffalo's student paper also has belated coverage of the season opener.
Despite losing Otto Porter early due to a glancing blow, Georgetown (1-0) still defeated Duquesne, 61-55.
A career high 33 from Ahmad Starks led the way in a 71-62 Oregon State (1-0) victory over New Mexico State.
Fairfield plays host school UVA in the preseason NIT. Should Sydney Johnson's team and Penn both win or both lose in their subregional tonight it will be the Stags and the Quakers facing off tomorrow.
Around the Ivy League: Brown (1-0) made it a 7-1 opening weekend for the league, besting Binghamton 58-49.
Dan Mavraides and I have been talking about doing an interview for a few weeks, but the former Princeton guard wanted to wait until his situation in Italy was settled before answering any of my questions.
Now under contract for the remainder of the 2012-13 season with Lega A side Sidigas Avellino, Mavraides was free to do his first interview with princetonbasketball.com since last August's Q&A.
Mavraides' new team holds a 2-4 record in the top Italian league and Mavraides has hit double figures in his last three contests, averaging 8.0 ppg and 2.8 assists/game on the young season.
The result of our email exchange follows after the jump.
Duquesne vs. Georgetown - 6:30 pm ET - Legends Classic Regional Round - ESPNU
New Mexico St. vs. Oregon State - 9:30 pm ET - 2K Sports Classic Regional Round - ESPNU
Brown vs. Binghamton - 2:00 pm ET
In addition to our recap, read about Princeton's season-opening victory on goprincetontigers.com in the Buffalo News, in the Niagara Gazette, courtesy the Associated Press and on buffalobulls.com.
Yesterday's result earned FanMatch most appealing game status.
A Keith Mathews free throw late in overtime gave Fairfield (1-0) a one point decision over Central Connecticut.
Mercer (1-0) started their season on the right note with an 81-72 triumph versus Rockland (NY). Mustafa El Amin scored 31 points and added seven rebounds for good measure.
Take two! Georgetown heads indoors to face Duquesne at home in a game that hopefully won't be called off at halftime.
Oregon State hosts New Mexico State.
Around the Ivy League: Cornell (1-0) blocked 13 shots and clamped down Western Michigan, 63-55. The only member of the Ancient Eight to lose so far this season is Yale (0-1), who did so in spectacular fashion. The Bulldogs led Sacred Heart 61-37 with under 14 minutes to go but the Pioneers would somehow force overtime and subsequently earn an 85-82 decision. Brian Barbour scored 19 as Columbia (1-0) drubbed Liberty, 68-47. Behind a career high 25 for Gabas Maldunas, Dartmouth (1-0) opened their year with a 67-54 decision over Maine.
Welcome back, Will Barrett.
The junior forward's first college basketball game in almost a year was also his finest as a Tiger. Barrett grabbed a career high nine rebounds to go alongside a career high 20 points including the victory-clinching three point shot with eight seconds left.
Holding on by one with 23 ticks to go and 17 on the shot clock, Princeton's Mack Darrow dribbled down the clock under pressure on the perimeter, got into the lane and found Barrett on the right wing for a four point lead, silencing a rabid Buffalo student section that made up the majority of the 4,450 in attendance and sealing the result.
“Mack did a great job coming to get the ball, being strong with it and it just happened that, I don’t know, they left me wide open,” Barrett recounted. “Mack gave me a perfect pass and [I] knocked it down.”
Barrett was an exemplary 9-10 at the free throw line and perhaps most impressively did not commit a turnover.
Support came from suspects both usual and unexpected. Ian Hummer fought his way to 12 points on 5-14 shooting and matched his career high with seven assists while sophomore Clay Wilson hit three times off the bench from long distance - including a possession-saving three launched just inside half court - and added a personal best 11.
Scoreless in the first half, Buffalo's Javon McCrea was unstoppable the final 20 minutes. He had all 22 of his points after intermission and was 10-12 at the line but was unable to tie the game at the stripe with :42.2 showing.
Princeton did not trail in the initial 20 minutes and after regaining the lead with 11:48 left did not relinquish their advantage.
Postgame audio can be found after the jump.
Today's Game: Princeton (0-0 / 0-0) vs. Buffalo (0-0 / 0-0)
Location: Alumni Arena - Buffalo, NY
Time: 12:00 pm ET
Radio: N/A
TV: N/A
Internet: N/A
Series History: Tied 1-1.
Last meeting: Princeton 61 Buffalo 53 - 11/19/11.
| Princeton | Buffalo | |
| 0-0 | Home Record | 0-0 |
| 0-0 | Away Record | 0-0 |
| 0-0 | Neutral Record | 0-0 |
| 93 | RPI | 93 |
| 82 | Sagarin | 171 |
| 73 | Pomeroy | 127 |
| 66.9 | Points / Game | 73.0 |
| 62.5 | Points Allowed / Game | 67.4 |
| .462 | FG% | .465 |
| .679 | FT% | .659 |
| .376 | 3PT FG% | .353 |
| 32.8 | Rebounds / Game | 40.2 |
| 8.3 | Off. Rebounds / Game | 12.1 |
| +0.0 | Rebounding Margin | +6.9 |
| 14.5 | Assists / Game | 16.5 |
| 12.3 | Turnovers / Game | 15.0 |
| 3.9 | Blocks / Game | 5.1 |
| Hummer: 16.1 | Points | McCrea: 14.7 |
| Hummer: 7.3 | Rebounds | McCrea: 6.9 |
| Bray: 3.7 | Assists | Oldham: 5.9 |
| Bray: 1.6 | Steals | Oldham: 1.5 |
| Hummer: 1.2 | Blocks | McCrea: 1.2 |
| Connolly: .565 | FG% (Min: 10 FGM) | McCrea: .572 |
| Darrow: .770 | FT% (Min: 10 FTM) | Watson: .919 |
| Bray: .402 | 3PT FG% (Min: 10 3PTM) | Watson: .374 |
Team stats are from last season.
Player stats include returning players only.
MCCC vs. Rockland (NY) - 2:00 pm ET
Fairfield vs. CCSU - 8:00 pm ET - Connecticut Six - SNY (tape delay)
Western Michigan vs. Cornell - 12:00 pm ET
Yale vs. Sacred Heart - 5:30 pm ET - Connecticut Six - SNY
Columbia vs. Furman - 7:00 pm ET
Maine vs. Dartmouth - 7:00 pm ET
There's an open thread for the Buffalo game in the forum if you want to discuss the 2012-13 opener before/during/after.
Ian Hummer is making his own name at Princeton. ESPN writes that while Hummer did not find himself on the the Wooden Award preseason top 50, he could end up there by season's end.
The Tigers ran into a Yankees pitcher at the airport on their way up to Buffalo.
Basketball games just really shouldn't be played on top of boats. Georgetown (0-0) got in 20 minutes versus Florida before their matchup was halted at halftime due to condensation. The result was a no contest.
Last night Richmond (1-0) crushed Liberty, 84-42. It was the school's 13th straight season-opening victory.
Denver (0-1) could not get entirely out of a 25 point deficit at Iona, falling 65-58.
There were no issues for Oregon State (1-0). The Beavers ripped Niagara, 102-83.
Fairfield begins their year this evening versus Central Connecticut. SNY has the game on tape delay at 10:00 pm ET.
Scoring 17 points and grabbing nine rebounds, Kareem Maddox played what he felt was his best display of the season in a Newcastle victory over Manchester.
Around the Ivy League: Harvard (1-0) started off their season down 10-0 to MIT, but regrouped for the 69-54 victory. Penn (1-0) dug themselves an even deeper hole against UMBC, trailing by as many as 22 in the first half. A 48-15 run turned the scoreboard around and sent the Quakers to an 80-75 decision.
The season begins tomorrow and to preview Princeton's first opponent of 2012-13 I traded emails with Timothy Riordan of UB Bull Run for the debut Know! Your! Foe! preview of the campaign.
Tim was under the weather and had to keep his answers brief but I hope this exchange will give you a better sense of who and what the Tigers are up against come high noon Saturday. It will be interesting to see if Buffalo's final home football game of the season improves attendance (kickoff is at 3:30 pm ET) or keeps fans away from Alumni Arena.
If you cover a team the Tigers will face down the line, let us know. Especially if you follow Northeastern! Coming up dry trying to find someone willing to talk Huskies with me...
Here's the latest collection of videos from various corners of the Princeton basketball family. Above, John Thompson III discusses Georgetown's season opener versus Florida.
Five additional videos follow after the jump.
Liberty vs. Richmond - 7:00 pm ET
Georgetown vs. Florida - 9:00 pm ET - USS Bataan - NBCSN
Denver vs. Iona - 9:00 pm ET - ESPN3.com
Niagara vs. Oregon State - 9:00 pm ET - Pac-12 Network
MIT vs. Harvard - 7:00 pm ET
UMBC vs. Penn - 7:00 pm ET
The Trentonian and the Princeton Packet preview the Tigers.
One of the highlights on today's first day of the 2012-13 season is Georgetown playing Florida aboard the deck of a Navy warship.
Denver visits Iona and Richmond hosts Liberty.
It will be Niagara visiting Oregon State in a 2K Sports Classic "regional round."
Louisville transfer Jared Swopshire brings experience to Northwestern.
Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon met at Jadwin Gym this afternoon before practice to record a wide-ranging interview in advance of the Tigers' season opener at Buffalo.
Henderson and Solomon discussed a long list of topics including but not limited to: specific returning players, depth in the backcourt, overall health, replacing Douglas Davis, two late additions to the Tigers' roster, the status of Ben Hazel's return, if there's someone on the team people aren't talking about that people should be talking about, the weight on Ian Hummer's shoulders, Princeton's pair of scrimmages, the best thing that could happen to Hans Brase, differences in the squad before and after the trip to Spain and finally the orange and black's first two games of the season.
Phew.
This exclusive Q&A available after the jump is 22:00+ in length.
The Trenton Times also has coverage of Princeton's Media Day and the Town Topics previews the 2012-13 Tigers.
Northwestern won last night's exhibition over the University of Chicago's "Maroon 5" by 24.
John Rogers and Craig Robinson both played in President Obama's traditional Election Day pickup game.
A preview of Georgetown is built around Otto Porter, much like how the Hoyas could be this season.
Are Fairfield flying under the radar? Perhaps the first Sit Down With Sydney (.mp3) of the campaign will help answer that question.
Bill Sword was remembered at a memorial service over the weekend.
Yesterday the site hit one of my preseason goals - 200 members subscribed before the season opener! Help us get to our goal of 275 subscribers this year by renewing or joining princetonbasketball.com today.
