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Princeton Pushes Kentucky to the Limit, Falls 59-57 on Last-Second Layup
Complete Men's Basketball Final Release in pdf format
Courtesy of Princeton Athletic Communications
TAMPA, Fla. -- It's games like these that gave the Princeton men's basketball program its reputation as giant killers, or at least giant scarers.
So while the win over UCLA in 1996 will remain alone as Princeton's most stunning NCAA Tournament victory, Thursday's 59-57 loss to fourth-seeded Kentucky will stand with others in which the Tigers gave the big names a run in the big dance.
Longtime Tiger fans know them well. A two-point loss to Villanova in 1991. A four-point defeat to Arkansas in 1990. And even though Princeton was no 16th seed this time as in the 50-49 loss to Georgetown in 1989, add that one to the list too.
While they're not as satisfying as wins, all of them, and this one as well, remind every team that Princeton can't be overlooked in the postseason.
Princeton led by as much as five in the second half against the Wildcats, threatening to move alongside the UCLA win in 1996 as perhaps the biggest stunner in Princeton's 24 NCAA appearances.
It had so many similarities, and even a nice round number for an anniversary, to that UCLA game, the last time the Tigers won their opening NCAA Tournament contest as the lower seed.
Once again, Princeton had the number 13 next to its name and was facing a nationally-known fourth-seed. Sydney Johnson, 15 years ago a captain on the 1996 team that upset UCLA, is now on the sidelines as the head coach.
Princeton trailed early, 7-0 against the Bruins and as much as 13-4 in this one. In neither game did the Tigers wilt.
Down by a point at the break, it was Princeton, not Kentucky, that burst out of the gate to open the second half. The Tigers scored eight of the first 11 points out of the locker room and led by as much as five as late as 44-39 inside of the 12-minute mark.
But the Wildcats halted it there. An 8-0 run by Kentucky put it back in the lead by three at 47-44 with less than nine minutes left, and the Tigers were in pursuit mode from there.
Princeton's four leading scorers on the season were its four leading scorers in the game, with Dan Mavraides' 14 points leading all four in double figures. Douglas Davis added 13, while Kareem Maddox had 12 and Ian Hummer 11.
Princeton had one more run in it, but Kentucky had the last full possession. Following a Maddox bucket with 1:35 to go and Hummer's rebound of a Brandon Knight miss, Mavraides' runner in the lane tied it at 57-57 with 38 seconds to go.
Kentucky whittled the clock, and Knight, the Wildcats' leading scorer on the season, dashed to the basket for the go-ahead layup with two seconds to go.
In a measure of just how much the Tigers stepped up to the challenge in this one, the game-winning basket was the only score that Knight, Kentucky's leading scorer on the season who averaged 17.5 points per game, had against Princeton.
The Tigers' last gasp with 2.0 seconds to go was a situation reminiscent of just five days before, when Princeton was down by one against Harvard in the Ivy League playoff and had 2.8 seconds to find Douglas Davis for the game-winner.
This time, however, Princeton had to go the length of the floor on the inbounds pass, a distance that proved too great for a miracle.
