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Welcome back to the Trentonian's Full-Court Press blog. Yes, we're still alive, and with the 2015-16 season rapidly approaching, it's time to fire up the old blog for another season. Check back here throughout the year for updates on all things Rider and Princeton, including coverage of both the MAAC and Ivy League. Feel free to drop me a line on twitter @kj_franko (https://twitter.com/kj_franko) or email kfranko@trentonian.com.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Princeton Gameday: at Penn


Who: Princeton (9-4, 0-0) at Penn (6-7, 0-0)

When: Saturday, 4:30 p.m., The Palestra, Philadelphia

TV/ Radio: FS1/ WPRB 103.3 FM

Last Time Out: Princeton def. Norfolk State, 83-74; Penn def. Binghamton, 80-45

Series History: The archrivals meet once against to open the Ivy slate on Saturday. Penn leads the all-time series, 124-108, but Princeton has won six of eight since Mitch Henderson took charge of the Tigers. Henderson’s .750 winning percentage is the best of any Princeton coach since the legendary Butch van Breda Kolff went 8-2 in his five seasons from 1962-67.

Scouting Penn: First-year coach Steve Donahue, back in the Ivy League after a failed stint at Boston College, took over for Jerome Allen and has the Quakers competitive once against. They picked up six wins in the non-conference and are coming off a 35-point victory over Tommy Dempsey’s lowly Binghamton — the largest margin of victory since beating Donahue’s Cornell team in 2006. Princeton has been vulnerable against strong post players, so look for the Quakers to pound it inside to the 6-11 Darien Nelson-Henry, who is averaging 12.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. The Quakers don’t have Tony Hicks, the top returning scorer from last season, after he left the team right before the season started.

Scouting Princeton: The Tigers picked up nine non-league wins, but didn’t beat an opponent with a winning record. The nine schools Princeton defeated have a combined record of 44-89. To the Tigers’ credit, they’ve handled those teams with relative ease. This is the last of a four-game road trip for Princeton, which goes into its finals break following the contest. The Tigers have had the same starting lineup in all 13 games, and thus, are having one of the best offensive seasons in program history. Their 77.08 points per game is close to the scoring record for a single season (79.74 set in 1971-72).

Women Lead Off: There’s a huge Ivy women’s game to start the day between Princeton (11-3, 0-0) and Penn (9-2, 0-0) tipping off at 1 p.m. The Quakers are considered the only legitimate challenger to the Tigers’ Ivy throne and are the last conference opponent to beat Princeton when they did so at the end of the 2013-14 season to capture an automatic NCAA Tournament berth.


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