RIGHT ON: Princeton University men’s basketball player Tosan Evbuomwan goes up for a shot in recent action. Last Saturday, junior star Evbuomwan scored 23 points and had eight rebounds and seven assists to help Princeton defeat Penn 93-70 at the Palestra. The triumph gave the Tigers the outright Ivy League regular season title and clinched the top seed for the upcoming league postseason tournament. Princeton, now 22-5 overall and 12-2 Ivy, will face fourth-seeded Cornell in the league semis on Saturday with the victor advancing to the title game a day later to play for a bid to the NCAA tournament.  (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

As the Princeton University men’s basketball team dribbled out the clock in the waning seconds of a 93-70 win over Penn last Saturday evening at the Palestra, the coaches and players on the bench rose as one to savor the moment.

With the Princeton supporters on hand giving the team a standing ovation and a beaming Tiger head coach Mitch Henderson looking on like a proud father, the players hugged on the court after the buzzer sounded, celebrating the triumph which gave them the outright Ivy League regular season title and clinched the top seed for the upcoming league postseason tournament.

“We had a shot at a share of the title last week but it is nice to have the outright title for these guys,” said Henderson, whose team improved to 22-5 overall and 12-2 Ivy with the victory, finishing one game ahead of Yale in the Ivy standings.

“We are thankful to be able to play in front of fans. We have had two years really waiting to have a moment like this. I am really thankful and really appreciative to be coaching this team and be around these guys. It is a really fun group. We will hopefully keep it going. We have a big week ahead but we are really going to enjoy this.”

Henderson enjoyed the way the Tiger offense executed against Penn as it shot 55.2 percent from the floor (37-67) and made just two turnovers.

“I thought everything came out tonight that we have been seeing all season,” said Henderson. “I have said this many times, there is no tension on this team. They search and seek out shots for each other. Nobody is raising their hand, saying that is me. They genuinely enjoy seeing each other do well. I think the reads were really good. Tosan [Evbuomwan] makes it very difficult to guard us. We put him in some spots and the guys have really learned to play around him. We had two turnovers, none in the first half, I have never seen that.”

Junior star forward Evbuomwan displayed his versatility in the win, tallying 23 points with seven assists and eight rebounds.

“It may have been the best we have been all season,” said Evbuomwan, in assessing the Tiger offensive performance. “I think we just jelled really well together tonight.”

It was a special night for senior guard Jaelin Llewellyn as he hit the 1,000-point milestone in his career with his 14th point of the game and ended up with a team-high 24 points.

“It is kind of perfect, it is a testament to the work I have put in and that we have put in,” said Llewellyn, reflecting on the accomplishment.

“It is an individual accolade but I prefer the team one more. It is a good night for it.”

Llewellyn, who has scored 69 points in his last three games, is in very good form.

“I just refocused and doubled down being as aggressive as I could and trying not to take any plays off,” said Llewellyn, who is now averaging 15.4 points a game, tied for the team-high with Evbuomwan. “I think it has been showing.”

Not being able to play last season as the Ivy League canceled the campaign due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns helped the Tigers sharpen their focus coming into this winter.

“We had to sit and watch other teams win and watch the tournament and it was eating at us,”  said Llewellyn. “I think it kind of fueled us to keep working.”

That hiatus made the win on Saturday even more special for Llewellyn.

“It is insane; I have been thinking about this moment since the Cornell game two years ago,” said Llewellyn.

“I just imagined it and it is kind of surreal. I haven’t been able to process it. I know we have still got more to do but I am going to remember this one.”

Evbuomwan, for his part, savored the moment. “That is the best feeling in the world, it is the goal we set at the start of the year and we finally accomplished it,” said Evbuomwan, who was named as the Ivy Player of the Year and a first-team All-Ivy performer on Tuesday.

“We have another step to go this weekend. It is great to tick that one off.”

Having guided Princeton to the league crown and Ivy tournament championship in the 2016-17 season, Henderson was thrilled to see this group earn a title.

“I had an opportunity to get a title earlier in my career,” said Henderson.

“I have never been more happy for a group of guys, they are so deserving. This is so hard to do and I am just really proud of them and proud to be around them. I tell everybody it is a joy to come down to the gym. They haven’t had an opportunity to do a whole lot in regular life so we tried to use the court time to just be ourselves and for them to be themselves. It is a really fun group to be around.”

Princeton will be looking to have more fun this weekend as it heads to Harvard for the Ivy postseason tournament. The top-seeded Tigers will face fourth-seeded Cornell (15-10 overall, 7-7 Ivy) in the league semis on Saturday with the victor advancing to the title game a day later to play for a bid to the NCAA tournament. It will be a tough matchup for Princeton as they split two games this season with the Big Red (winning 72-70 on January 8 on a buzzer-beater and then falling 88-83 on February 4) who are coached by former Tiger star and assistant coach Brian Earl.

“They play a really tough style to guard and they have a terrific coach,” said Henderson in assessing the matchup.

“We feel like there is room for improvement for us. We are really looking forward to getting after it this week. It is a neutral site game, it is tournament time. We know that anybody can beat us but when we are at our best, we are quite good.”

Llewellyn believes that Princeton hasn’t peaked yet. “We have so much more room to grow,” said Llewellyn, who also earned first-team All-Ivy honors. “I think we will take this week and try to do that.”

Evbuomwan, for his part, is confident that the Tigers will keep growing this weekend.

“We are looking forward to it,” said Evbuomwan. “We will need to get better. They are standing in the way of the goal we set out to achieve.”