The Tigers have two big stars in Xaivian Lee and Caden Pierce, a pro-friendly offense, a freshman shooter from Bergen County, and big expectations.
Watch: Xaivian Lee shooting at Princeton basketball practice
Watch: Xaivian Lee shooting at Princeton basketball practice
PRINCETON – As a player at Princeton University in the 1990s, current Tigers head coach Mitch Henderson won 89 games, three Ivy League titles and two NCAA Tournament contests. But he never had six NBA scouts attend one of his practices, which is what happened one day in mid-October.
“I would have killed for a day like this when I played,” Henderson said.
Times have changed at Old Nassau. Princeton alum Tosan Evbuomwan is on a two-way contract with the Detroit Pistons and the current roster includes two big college stars in point guard Xaivian Lee and forward Caden Pierce. Lee was on NBA scouts’ radar last spring before deciding to return to school for his junior year.
“We try not to let that distract us from what we’re doing here,” Lee said of the scouts. “But, grateful to have the opportunity.”
What they’re doing is looking to win a third straight Ivy League title and return to the NCAA Tournament, where their Sweet 16 run in 2022 set the table for all this pro-scout attention.
“I tell Xaivian, I tell myself, I tell all these guys: None of this matters if we don’t win games,” Pierce said.
That seems highly likely. Lee (17.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 3.7 apg) and Pierce (16.6 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 3.2 apg) could start for just about any team in college basketball. That they chose to remain at Princeton as full-fledged free agency roiled every corner of the sport – including the Ivy League – spoke volumes about the Tigers’ culture.
A win for culture
While Lee was going through the NBA Draft process, drawing serious interest as a potential free-agent signing, Pierce was making the case for one more run together.
“At the end of the day, me and Xaivian, we’re pretty much best friends,” Pierce said. “If you’re looking elsewhere, that’s one thing that brings you back, is you want to have friends for life. That’s one thing this place does well – you grow up with your class and your teammates and eventually you become best friends and you don’t want to leave that behind.”
Pierce could have left it behind, too, for the riches of the transfer portal.
“You hear things and people tell you things, so at the end of the day you do kind of evaluate, but I love Princeton,” he said. “I think this place has done more for me than I ever could have imagined, so I’m happy to be back.”
The Tigers lost two starters to the portal (guard Matt Allocco to Notre Dame and forward Zach Martini to Rutgers), but only because the Ivy League does not allow postgrads to play and they’d collected their bachelor’s degrees. Two undergraduate bench players transferred out, which is far less attrition that most programs experienced. Battle-tested guards Blake Peters and Dalen Davis, who is coming off an eye-opening freshman year, returned.
“I’m very thankful that they stayed, that we have the core unit together,” Henderson said. “(Alums) look at the group and you’re like: ‘Why would you ever leave?’ Well there’s a lot of reasons to leave, but being on a team when people really care about one another and playing a way that’s fun – that’s a good selling point.”
Although last year’s team had to play fairly slow due to an acute lack of depth, Henderson long ago lifted the clamps on the old Princeton offense. His guys have a green light.
“This is where I could grow the most and let my game be on display the most, so I felt comfortable coming back here,” Lee said. “I love the culture, my coaches, my teammates. Princeton basketball as a whole has been great to me.”
Remember the name: Peyton Seals
What Henderson and his assistants have done as well as any coaching staff in the country is identify prospects who fit their culture. Here’s the next name to watch: Peyton Seals.
The Bergen County native, a 6-foot-4 freshman guard out of Ramapo High School, was identified early by Princeton associate head coach Brett MacConnell – a Jersey native who has opened a pipeline of Garden State talent to Jadwin Gym. The Tigers were Seals’ first and only Division 1 offer.
The preseason has been a crash course for Seals, both in the classroom (he’s an economics major) and on the court, where he’s caught a couple of Pierce’s elbows, gotten backdoored, and at times matched the sharpshooting Peters shot for shot.
“He’s tough, he’s coachable and with zero fear,” Henderson said. “And he’s been drilling shots.”
Though Seals played point guard at Ramapo, Henderson will use him off the ball as a sub, capable of hitting a jumper or posting up smaller guards.
“With guys like Cade and Xaivian, they’re going to get a lot of attention so I can space the floor out,” Seals said.
He’s encouraged by Henderson’s willingness to entrust large roles to freshmen, as he did with Davis last season and Lee and Pierce the year before.
“Seeing that is definitely motivating, but you’ve got to put in the work and show the coaches you’re trustworthy out there,” Seals said.
Pierce and Lee, he said, “have the blueprint.”
What does it read for Princeton this winter, as NBA scouts and many other new eyes tune in?
“I think we could be even better than we’ve been,” Lee said. “In terms of talent and skill, this is the best team I’ve played on so far.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
