The 1995–96 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team represented

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in intercollegiate

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

during the

1995–96 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 1995–96 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November 1995 and concluded with the 64-team 1996 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, whose finals were held at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, ...

. The

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

was Pete Carril and the team

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was Sydney Johnson. The team played its home games in the Jadwin Gymnasium on the University campus in

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. The team was the champion of the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

, which earned them an invitation to the 64-team

1996 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1996 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 14, 1996, and ended with the champio ...

where they were seeded thirteenth in the Southeast Region. This was the final year that Carril coached the men's basketball team. He would be succeeded by assistant coach

Bill Carmody William D. Carmody (born December 4, 1951) is an American retired men's college basketball coach, formerly the head coach at the Holy Cross Crusaders men's basketball, College of the Holy Cross. He was the head coach of the Northwestern Wildc ...

. Carrill retired as the Ivy League's winningest coach in terms of overall victories, conference victories and conference championships. By the end of the decade, Princeton achieved a 76.1% (210–66) winning percentage, which was the eighth best in the nation. Using the Princeton offense, the team posted a 22–7 overall record and a 13–2 conference record. Even after Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney who led the Penn Quakers to Ivy titles in the prior four seasons graduated, Princeton's only two losses were to . After losing the regular season finale at The Palestra against Penn to finish the regular season tied for the conference championship on March 5, the team won its March 9, 1996, one-game Ivy League playoff game against Penn in

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, Pennsylvania, at the Stabler Arena by a 63–56 margin in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

for the Ivy League Championship and an invitation to the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The win ended an eight-game losing streak to Penn. The win earned the team the conference automatic bid to the 1996 NCAA tournament and following the game

Pete Carril announced his retirement. On March 14, the 13th seeded team was matched against the defending national champion and fourth seeded

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Southeast Regional first round game at the RCA Dome in

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, Indiana. The team fell behind 41–34 with over six minutes remaining, but held UCLA scoreless the rest of the game, winning 43–41 on the strength of a typical Princeton offense, Steve Goodrich to Gabe Lewullis bounce pass backdoor basket. During the game, Sydney Johnson's leadership held the team together early when the UCLA team looked strong. It was the final upset the team produced in Carril's career, as two days later, the Tigers season ended with a 63–41 loss to

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in the second round. The team was led by first team All-Ivy League selections Steve Goodrich and Johnson. The team won the eighth of twelve consecutive national statistical championships in

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defense with a 51.7 points allowed average. Goodrich led the Ivy League with a 60.3

field goal percentage Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Although three-point field goal percentage is often calculated separately, three-point field goals are included in the gene ...

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Non-conference Regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Ivy League Regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Ivy League Playoff , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1995-96 Princeton Tigers Men's Basketball Team Princeton Tigers men's basketball seasons Princeton Tigers

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Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...