The 2011–12 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team represented

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

during the

2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 7, 2011 with the (2K Sports Classic) and ended with the 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament's championship game on April 2, 2012 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome ...

. The Tigers, led by first year head coach

Mitch Henderson Mitchell Gordon Henderson (born August 14, 1975) is an American college basketball coach, currently serving as head coach for the Princeton Tigers men's basketball team. Before taking the Princeton job in 2011, he served as an assistant for the ...

, played their home games at

Jadwin Gymnasium The L. Stockwell Jadwin Gymnasium is a 6,854-seat multi-purpose arena at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. The arena opened in 1969. It is home to the Princeton Tigers college basketball teams. It replaced Dillon Gymnasium, the ...

and are members of the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schoo ...

. The team

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

were seniors Douglas Davis and Patrick Saunders. They finished the season 20–12, 10–4 in Ivy League play to finish in third place. They were invited to the

2012 College Basketball Invitational The 2012 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) was a single-elimination tournament of 16 NCAA Division I teams that did not participate in the 2012 NCAA Tournament or the 2012 National Invitation Tournament. The opening games began on Tuesday, ...

where they defeated

Evansville Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city i ...

in the first round before falling in the quarterfinals to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. The season was highlighted by wins over a ranked Harvard team and the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdiv ...

. The team was led by unanimous first team All-Ivy League selection

Ian Hummer Ian MacDonald Hummer (born August 23, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for Osaka Evessa of the Japanese B.League and the Basketball Champions League. He has previously played professionally in countries such as Turkey, Russia ...

and second team selection Douglas Davis.

Preview

Princeton entered the season having won the

2010–11 Ivy League men's basketball season The 2010–11 Ivy League men's basketball season marks the continuation of the annual tradition of competitive basketball among Ivy League members that began when the league was formed during the 1956–57 season, continuing from the predecessor ...

championship and having earned the resulting

2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament involving 68 teams to determine the national champion of the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The 73rd edition of the NCAA tournament bega ...

invitation. The team entered the season having lost senior captains Dan Mavraides and Kareem Maddox. Maddox was the reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and a unanimous first team All-Ivy selection. Mavraides had been a second team All-Ivy selection. The team returned second team All-Ivy selection Hummer. Entering the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other Coach (sport), coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manage ...

began his tenure at

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

, taking over for

Sydney Johnson Sydney Johnson (born April 26, 1974) is an American college basketball coach and the former head coach at Fairfield University for the Fairfield Stags men's basketball team. Previously, Johnson was the head coach at Princeton University from 2 ...

. With the move that resulted from Johnson taking a new coaching job, Princeton has six alumni who are active Division I head coaches, a total second only to eight by the

North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball The North Carolina Tar Heels Men's basketball program is the college basketball team of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels have won six National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships (1957, 1982, 1993 ...

program. The Ivy League media poll selected Princeton to be tied with

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

for second place behind Harvard. Princeton had been the preseason favorite the year before.

Roster

Schedule

With a new first-time head coach, the team got off to slow starts. It started the season with a 1–5 record, but won 18 of its final 24 games and started its conference schedule with a 2–3 record, but won 8 of its final 9 games. The recovery enabled the team to qualify for its 32nd post season appearance (24 NCAA, 5 NIT and 2 CBI). Princeton earned its first home win against a ranked opponent since the 1976–77 team's January 3, 1977, victory over

Notre Dame Notre Dame, French for "Our Lady", a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, most commonly refers to: * Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris, France * University of Notre Dame, a university in Indiana, United States ** Notre Dame Fighting Irish, th ...

by defeating Harvard (No. 21 Coaches/25 AP) on February 11, 2012. The win was also its first against a ranked opponent on any court since November 11, 1997, which is when the 1997–98 team opened its season with a victory over a ranked

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

team at

Meadowlands Arena Meadowlands Arena (formerly Brendan Byrne Arena, Continental Airlines Arena and Izod Center) is a closed indoor arena facility located in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. The arena is located on ...

(now named Izod Center) in

East Rutherford, New Jersey East Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 10,022, reflecting an increase of 1,109 (+12.4%) from the 8,913 counted in the 2010 census.

. Princeton also defeated eventual

2012 ACC men's basketball tournament The 2012 Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball tournament, part of the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, took place from March 8–11 at the Philips Arena in Atlanta. The 2011–12 Florida State Seminoles men's basketball te ...

champion

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...

five weeks after Harvard did as well as

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

member and New Jersey rival . In addition, the team's schedule included the ACC's

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest u ...

. Its results against Harvard, Florida State and NC State give the team a 2–2 record against teams in the

2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament involving 68 schools playing to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The 74th edition of the tournament began on Marc ...

. For the 18th consecutive season, the Ivy League men's basketball schedule concluded with a Tuesday Penn–Princeton basketball rivalry game against the 2011–12 Quakers. Princeton's 62–52 victory enabled it to retain slim 26–25 and 24–23 leads in terms of Ivy League Championships and Ivy League team NCAA Tournament appearances, respectively. In the first round of the 2012 CBI Tournament, senior Douglas Davis scored a career-high 31 points to lead Princeton to a 95–86 victory over

. Although Davis posted another 20 points in the subsequent quarterfinal game against

to surpass

Kit Mueller Christopher J. "Kit" Mueller (born c. 1969) is a retired American basketball player. He played high school basketball in the Chicago metropolitan area for Downers Grove South High School. Subsequently, he starred for the Princeton Tigers men ...

for second place on the Princeton scoring list, Princeton lost 82–61 to end the season. Davis' appearance in the March 19 contest also enabled him to surpass Ryan Wittman as the Ivy League's all-time leader in games played (122). Pittsburgh eventually went on to win the tournament. , - !colspan=9, Regular Season , - !colspan=9,

2012 CBI 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit (measurement), unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment ...

All-Ivy

The following players earned Ivy League postseason recognition: ;First Team All-Ivy *^

, Princeton (Jr., F, Vienna, Virginia) ;Second Team All-Ivy *Douglas Davis, Princeton (Sr., G, Philadelphia) *^Unanimous Selection

Other

The

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, head men's basketball coach at the University ...

announced their Division I All‐District District 13 team on March 14, recognizing the nation's best men's collegiate basketball student-athletes. Ian Hummer was a second team selection.

References

External links

Princeton Tigers
@ ESPN.com
2011 stats
@ ESPN.com {{DEFAULTSORT:2011-12 Princeton Tigers Men's Basketball Team Princeton Tigers men's basketball seasons

Prince A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in s ...