The team is known for the Princeton offense strategy, perfected under the tenure of former head coachPete Carril, who coached the team from 1967 to 1996. The Princeton offense has resulted in Princeton leading the nation in scoring defense 20 times since 1976, including every year from 1989 to 2000. As of 2023, the Tigers have amassed 1803 victories, 25 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament appearances (including four consecutive appearances between 1989 and 1992), and 30 Ivy League regular season titles. Their main Ivy League rivalry is with Penn.
Eight different Tigers have earned 12 All-American recognitions. Bill Bradley is the only three-time honoree.[2] Numerous Tigers have played professional basketball. The most recent Tiger NBAer was Steve Goodrich.[3]Geoff Petrie was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1971, while Brian Taylor earned the same honor in the American Basketball Association in 1973.[3][4] Two of the three Ivy Leaguers to have played in the Olympic games were Tigers.[5] Four of the eight NBA and ABA championships earned by Ivy League players have been earned by Tigers.[5] Three of the five highest NBA career point totals by Ivy League players were by Tigers.[5] Five of the ten Ivy League players selected among the top 25 overall selections in the NBA draft were Tigers.[5]
Coaches
Carril holds the Ivy League record for most career seasons, championships, and wins. Bill Carmody holds the career winning percentage record.[6]
Coaching Records[7]
Arenas
Princeton originally played its home games at University Gymnasium until it burned down in 1944. Hobey Baker Memorial Rink served as the interim home court for the 1945–46 and 1946–47 seasons until Dillon Gymnasium was built. The 6,800-seat Jadwin Gymnasium hosted the Tigers for the first time on January 25, 1969, against the Penn Quakers men's basketball team. It continues to be the team's home court.[7]
Ivy League
The Tigers have played against their Ivy League foes for over a century.[8]
David Blatt, now an Israeli-American, played for Princeton in 1977–81 and then became a professional basketball player and subsequently a coach (most recently, for the Cleveland Cavaliers).[12]
Bradley continues to hold the single-game, single-season, and career total and average points Ivy League records. In addition, he holds the Ivy records for single-game, single-season, and career field goals made as well as single-season, and career free throws made. Other Tiger Ivy League record holders include Howard Levy (1982–85, career field goal percentage),[14] Alan Williams (1986–87, single-season field goal percentage), Brian Earl (1995–99, career three-point field goals made), Spencer Gloger (vs- Ala.-Birmingham, December 18, 1999, single-game three-point field goals made), Sydney Johnson (-vs- Columbia & Cornell, Feb 28 – March 1, 1997, consecutive three-point field goals made; single-game three-point field goals made with no misses), Dave Orlandini (1986–88, career three-point field goal percentage; 1987–88 single-season three-point field goal percentage).[6]
Combined single-game points (Since 1986, which is either the three-point shot or shot clock era):[16][17] 62—Monmouth (41) vs. Princeton (21), December 14, 2005
Single-season three-point field goal percentage (Min. 200 made):[16] 49.2%—Princeton, 1988 (211 of 429)
Longest annual rivalry Princeton–Yale:[18] Since 1902 (tied with Columbia–Yale, Princeton–Penn is second since 1903)
Weisz became the only player in Princeton career history to amass 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 300 assists, and 200 3-pointers.[38]
The 27-point comeback from 13–40 with 15:11 remaining to win 50–49 over Penn on February 9, 1999, remains the fifth-largest comeback and fourth-largest second-half comeback in NCAA history. That game's 9–33 half time deficit comeback remains the second-largest comeback.[39]
14 of the top 25 single-season team defensive averages since 1965 have been by Princeton.[25]
Princeton ranked in the top 10 nationally in win percentage in both the 1960s (72.6, 188–71, 10th),[40] and 1990s (76.1, 210–66, 8th).[41]
Last Princeton team ranked in the polls during the season and at the end of the season was the 1997–98 team, which was ranked in all but the first three polls (15 weeks) of the season and finished the season 8th.[42]
Other ranked teams according to the AP Poll 1950–51 (2 weeks, peak 18, finished unranked), 1966–67 (9 weeks, peak 3, finished 5), 1967–68 (2 weeks, peak 8, finished unranked, but 15 by UPI since AP was only top 10 at the time), 1971–72 (3 weeks, peak 14, finished unranked), 1974–75 (2 weeks, peak 12, finished 12), 1975–76 (2 weeks, peak 15, finished unranked, but 19T by UPI), 1990–91 (6 weeks, peak 18, finished 18).[43][44]
The NCAA began seeding the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament with the 1979 edition.[47] The 64-team field started in 1985, which guaranteed that a championship team had to win six games.[48]
The Tigers have a 15–30 record in the NCAA tournament.
In 2011 the round of 64 was the second round
NIT
CBI
Notes
^"Logo & Brand Assets | Princeton University Office of Communications". Retrieved September 25, 2018.
^ a b c d ePrinceton Athletic Communications (June 12, 2009). "Men's Basketball Record Book • Ivy League & National Awards". Princeton University. Retrieved March 23, 2010.
^ a b cPrinceton Athletic Communications. "Princeton in the Pros". Princeton University. Retrieved March 23, 2010.
^"Ivy Leaguers in the National Basketball Assoc". ivyleaguesports.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
^ a b c d e f g h i"Men's Honors" (PDF). ivyleaguesports.com. Retrieved March 24, 2010. [dead link]
^ a b"Men's Individual Records" (PDF). ivyleaguesports.com. Retrieved March 24, 2010. [dead link]
^ a bPrinceton Athletic Communications (June 12, 2009). "Men's Basketball Record Book • Coaching Record & Program Facts". Princeton University. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
^Princeton Athletic Communications (June 12, 2009). "Men's Basketball Record Book • Records vs. Division I Opponents". Princeton University. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
^"Pierce Named Rookie of the Year, Evbuomwan & Allocco Named All-Ivy". Princeton University Athletics. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
^"Mitch Henderson". Go Princeton Tigers. Learfield. Retrieved July 9, 2023.
^"Basketball All-Americans". ivyleaguesports.com. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
^"Former Princeton coach Pete Carril's opinion of Cleveland Cavaliers candidate David Blatt: 'It's all good.'". cleveland.com. June 19, 2014.
^Torre, Pablo S. (February 1, 2010). "Harvard School Of Basketball". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
^"Ivy League Schools". February 6, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
^ a b"Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
^ a b c d"Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 39. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
^ a b"Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 60. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
^ a b c"Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 42. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
^ a b c"Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 35. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
^ a b c"Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 49. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
^ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 537. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.
^"Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. pp. 68–80. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
^"Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. pp. 85–90. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 31, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010.
^"NCAA basketball tournament History". ESPN. Archived from the original on March 20, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
^Princeton Athletic Communications (June 22, 2009). "Men's Basketball Record Book • Men's Basketball in the Postseason". Princeton University. Retrieved March 23, 2010.
^"Tourney History – NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship". ncaahistory.com. Retrieved August 6, 2008.
^Shelton, Harold, Nick Loucks and Chris Fallica (July 21, 2008). "Counting down the most prestigious programs since 1984–85". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved August 6, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)