Takeaways | Princeton outlasts Rutgers basketball with Caden Pierce's game-winning shot

Takeaways | Princeton outlasts Rutgers basketball with Caden Pierce’s game-winning shot

Posted by Admin December 21, 2024 Basketball

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NEWARK – Both Rutgers basketball coach Steve Pikiell and Princeton’s Mitch Henderson have expressed a desire to keep the series between their teams going into the future.

That’s a good thing because both teams delivered another highly entertaining game right down to the final seconds.

But if this does continue, Rutgers might dread seeing Princeton on its schedule.

Ace Bailey drained a three-pointer from the left wing with 17 seconds left before a tough layup from Caden Pierce pushed Princeton back ahead for good to send the Tigers to an 83-82 victory Saturday at Prudential Center in the Never Forget Tribute Classic.

“Princeton’s always good, always challenging,” Pikiell said. “They were one possession better than us today. …We’re scoring plenty of points to win. Just got to be one possession better.”

It was the second-straight year Princeton beat Rutgers in this matchup.

“I thought it was a great college basketball game,” Henderson said. “We’re fortunate there to come up with the win.”

Pierce and Xaivian Lee each had 21 points for Princeton. Pierce also had 14 rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass, in a tremendous performance.

Dylan Harper led Rutgers with 22 points.

It was a frenetic, up-and-down battle from the opening tip and that fast pace never relented.

Just a fantastic game from start to finish with the teams exchanging leads (17 times) and making big basket after big basket.

“We had a few opportunities, we just didn’t finish it off today,” Pikiell said.

Princeton took a 77-73 lead with about five minutes to go when Philip Byriel drained a three from the right corner. Against his former team, Zach Martini, who drained a three from the right corner minutes earlier, hit two foul shots to cut the deficit to two before Lee made a layup on the other end to push it back to four.

Lee then made a tough reverse layup with a little more than two minutes to go to make it a six-point game before a Jeremiah Williams jumper in the lane cut Rutgers’ deficit to four and a jumper from Bailey from the right corner made it 81-79 with 54.2 seconds left.

It was tight right until the final buzzer, with Pierce’s game-winning basket with five seconds to go making the difference.

With Rutgers guarding Princeton’s shooters on the perimeter, Pierce backed down Jordan Derkack in the lane, spun and finished the tough basket for the lead.

“He just finished a heck of play,” Pikiell said.

Harper attempted a three as the final seconds ticked off the clock but he couldn’t knock it down.

Princeton shot 47.1 percent from the field and went 9-of-27 from the perimeter, while Rutgers went 46.0 percent from the field, but just 6-of-19 (31.6 percent from long distance).

Here are five takeaways:

1. Big performances from both point guards in elite battle

This was a matchup of two of the top point guards in the country in Rutgers’ Dylan Harper, the NBA-bound freshman, and Princeton’s Lee.

And the battle lived up to the billing – both played at a high level, but Lee ultimately came out on top.

Still, Harper was excellent.

He had a stellar first half – which ended with Rutgers leading 46-44 – when he scored 17 of his points. He tied it at 29 with a driving layup in the first half then drained a three from the right wing with just more than six minutes to go to out Rutgers up by three. He later hit a fadeaway jumper in the final minute of the first half to tie the game at 44.

Harper made another big basket with just less than nine minutes to go in the second half, slithering his way through the lane and crossing over multiple defenders for a layup that put Rutgers up 66-65 (he drew the foul but couldn’t hit the free throw for a three-point play).

But for Princeton, Lee came up huge in the game’s final minutes with some clutch baskets.

Along with his 21 points, he had six rebounds and 11 assists in a stellar all-around showing.

2. Princeton on the boards

The Tigers crashed the glass hard from the start, outrebounding the Scarlet Knights 43-36.

That included 19 offensive rebounds that led to 23 crucial second-chance points for Princeton.

That was a major key for Henderson’s team in this game.

“Tonight, they got the long rebounds,” Pikiell said. “Nineteen offensive rebounds for Princeton is not a recipe for winning a basketball game.”

3. What it means for Rutgers

This was a costly loss. There’s no question about it.

Right now it’s a Quad 3 defeat, though that could become Quad 2 depending on how Princeton does in its Ivy League schedule.

The Scarlet Knights need to keep improving its NCAA Tournament resume.

This didn’t help, though there’s still plenty of time to overcome it with the Big Ten grind ahead.

“It’s a long season,” Pikiell said. “I don’t spend a lot of time on that stuff. At the end of the season, the quads all change. I don’t spend a lot of time on it. I want us to continue to get better.”

4. A definitively pro-Rutgers crowd

Perhaps not surprisingly, the crowd absolutely tilted in Rutgers’ favor. There were roughly 10,000 fans in the building, most of the clad in red with the exception of small pockets of orange dotting the stands, and there were plenty of Rutgers and “R-U!” chants throughout the game.

Princeton fans pack Jadwin Gymnasium, but the Tigers didn’t have much of a representation in the stands at Prudential Center.

That was actually true even outside the arena before the game. Henderson said when the team arrived, the security guard at the entrance said “Boo” when he found out it was Princeton’s bus.

“It was great to see a lot of red early on and as the game progressed it stayed that way,” Martini said. “Felt like a home game.”

5. Up next

Rutgers will have more than a week off before hosting Columbia at Jersey Mike’s Arena on Dec. 30 (5 p.m., BTN) for its final nonconference game of the season.