NEWARK, N.J. — For the second year in a row, Princeton men’s basketball (9–4 overall, 0–0 Ivy League) pulled off an upset over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (7–5, 1–1 Big Ten) in a dramatic 83–82 win at the Never Forget Tribute Classic held at the Prudential Center. Facing Rutger’s star first-year duo of Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey — two top-five prospects for the NBA 2025 Draft — the Tigers prevailed through the offensive power of junior guard Xaivian Lee and junior forward Caden Pierce, with Pierce sealing the deal for the Orange and Black with seconds on the clock.
“What’s Ivy League basketball?” Head Coach Mitch Henderson ’98 said postgame in response to others demeaning the conference. “Before the game it was all ‘Harper-Bailey, Harper-Bailey,’ and I wanted to talk about ‘Lee-Pierce.’”
The Scarlet Knights were heavy favorites heading into the matchup. The Rutgers squad is led by Harper, who holds the third highest points-per-game in the country, and Bailey, a 6-foot-10-inch wing. But Princeton’s own duo of Xaivian Lee and Pierce, who each scored 21, put on a dazzling display as they nullified Harper’s 22 and Bailey’s 15.
The Tigers walked out to a roaring 10,000-person crowd, the overwhelming majority of which donned scarlet and black.
“I love big crowds, whether it’s a home crowd or an away crowd,” Lee said postgame. “Any sort of environment like this is awesome to play in.”
Right from the get-go, Princeton’s quick passing resulted in an and-one for Pierce at a 6–2 lead. But Rutgers responded with their own starpower, as a Harper layup, combined with the earlier Bailey layup, tied the game at six apiece. The lead would switch a whopping 17 times throughout the game, with neither side managing to open a substantial lead.
After Rutgers opened up a four point advantage, Pierce responded with a dunk, soaring over Harper to make it 19–18.
Backdoor JAM! 😤 @PrincetonMBB pic.twitter.com/7HThfEhVIz
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) December 21, 2024
Free throws turned out to be the Tigers’ worst enemy, with them making only one of their seven attempts compared to Rutgers’ 12 from 14 in the first half. Despite an offense that heavily revolves around shooting, Princeton is 262nd in free throw percentage on the year. On the other hand, six out of Rutgers’ last 12 points in the half came from free throws, including two from former Tiger Zach Martini ’24, to leave Princeton down 46–44.
“It was fun to compete against those guys — a lot are my good friends, still,” Martini said after the game. “[Caden] had a good game today, and they came out on top, so credit to those guys.”
Despite the game being close, the Tigers were showing signs of shakiness throughout the first half.
“We were down two, we had seven turnovers, we missed every free throw,” Henderson said postgame.
Lee started off the second half with a jumper that ignited the crowd as he tied the game 46–46, though Rutgers had an answer in the form of five straight points from 6-foot-10-inch center Emmanuel Ogbole. Senior forward Philip Byriel, who has proved to be one of the Tigers’ best sharpshooters this season, knocked down a key three to keep it tight, but Rutgers responded by opening up a six point lead of 55–49 — their largest of the game.
In danger of letting things slip away, Lee began taking matters into his own hands. As the second half progressed, the Tigers’ offensive plan became clear: Give Lee the ball and get out of the way. The Rutgers defense began to key in on Lee, fouling him alone seven times in the second half.
“Any game like that I’m for, and against two really tough guys, highly-rated guys, I think it just makes it easier to get up for a game like this,” Lee said postgame. “I love playing against the best, with the best.”
The strategy would pay off as the Tigers opened up a four-point lead to enter the closing moments of the game.
The final minute of the game would prove to be its most hectic, beginning with sophomore guard Jackson Hicke pulling off a crucial block to deny Rutgers’ Jamichael Davis at the rim on a fast break. Bailey responded with a jumper, narrowing the Tiger lead to two.
The game would turn in the Scarlet Knights’ favor in the final 15 seconds as Bailey got the ball and pulled from three. The Prudential Center erupted as it seemed he had sealed an 82–81 win for Rutgers — though Pierce had other ideas.
“I looked up and it was 13 seconds on the clock,” Pierce said postgame. “We’re in the bonus, so I knew that with so many shooters around me, the lane was gonna be pretty open.”
Pierce ran the ball up court and into the paint, facing Rutgers guard Jordan Derkack as the clock ticked. Pierce spun around Derkack and laid in for an 83–82 lead.
WILD ending to Princeton-Rutgers 🤯@PrincetonMBB hangs on to win! pic.twitter.com/QvUNfmkulx
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) December 21, 2024
With 4.5 seconds left, Harper could only force a long-range shot as the buzzer went off, leaving the entire stadium in awe as the Tigers seemed to have surely won it, lost it, then regained it all in the final minute.
“Caden killed us last year, he did it again,” Rutgers Head Coach Steve Pikiell said. “Seven offensive rebounds, we talked about his five from last year that hurt us a lot … They’re a tough team to play because they got shooters all around, and we didn’t wanna give up a three.”
The Tigers have several positives to take from this game outside the scoreline, including out-rebounding a physically strong team like Rutgers, with Pierce alone having 14 out of Princeton’s 43. The Tigers also competed in the paint, scoring 44 from there. But most importantly, the Tigers refused to back down in the face of the star power and strength of Rutgers.
The Tigers next host the Akron Zips (7–4, 0–0 Mid-American Conference) at Jadwin Gymnasium on Monday, Dec. 30 at 1 p.m. as they wrap up non-conference play.
Bryant Figueroa is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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