Princeton’s men’s basketball team came into Sunday evening with a perfect season, sitting at nine wins and zero losses, but they were in for a tough matchup with the Saint Joseph’s Hawks, who was one game back from leading the Atlantic-10 conference before the win. Princeton is just one year removed from an Elite Eight appearance as the 15 seed, defeating Arizona in round one in coast to a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

Princeton is led by sophomore guard Xaivian Lee, who is averaging almost 20 points a game, and is a candidate for most improved player in the Ivy League, as he has jumped up 14.9 points per game from last season. In this game in particular, Princeton shot efficiently enough to win the game, but down the stretch, they missed four free throws that would have tied the game at 74. Princeton also lost the turnover battle, rebounding battle, and the drawing fouls to get to the line battle, as the Hawks had ten more free throws than them.

All in all, Princeton should be just fine, but they did schedule a tough non-conference schedule, so it is not surprising that they dropped one of the first ten games, I think it is more surprising that they went nine and one in their first ten games. Beating Rutgers, Hofstra, Duquesne, Monmouth, Furman, and Northeastern to start the year is a good sign for a tournament-hopeful team. Princeton is ranked 52nd at Kenpom, 10th in the NET, and is a team that could be ranked before we know it. Princeton is still going to be a team to watch as a mid-major that can steal an at-large bid if they do not win the Ivy League championship, but Princeton’s perfect season comes to end in game 10.

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