The 1991–92 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team represented Princeton University in intercollegiate college basketball during the 1991–92 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Pete Carril and the team co-captains were Matt Eastwick, Sean Jackson and George Leftwich.[2] The team played its home games in the Jadwin Gymnasium on the university campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The team was the champion of the Ivy League, which earned them an invitation to the 64-team 1992 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament where they were seeded eleventh in the East Region.[3] This was the team's fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA basketball tournament after having lost in the first round by a total of seven points in the prior three years.[4] The season included a 15-game winning streak that supported a 26-game Ivy League winning streak (4 shy of the conference record) both of which ended on February 28, 1992, against Yale.[5]
| 1991–92 Princeton Tigers men's basketball | |
|---|---|
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Ivy League Champion | |
1992 NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Eleven Seed, Round of 64 | |
| Conference | Ivy League |
| Record | 22–6 (12–2, 1st Ivy) |
| Head coach |
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| Captains |
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| Home arena | Jadwin Gymnasium |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Princeton | 12 | – | 2 | .857 | 22 | – | 6 | .786 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Penn | 9 | – | 5 | .643 | 16 | – | 10 | .615 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Columbia | 8 | – | 6 | .571 | 10 | – | 16 | .385 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yale | 7 | – | 7 | .500 | 17 | – | 9 | .654 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Brown | 5 | – | 9 | .357 | 11 | – | 15 | .423 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dartmouth | 5 | – | 9 | .357 | 10 | – | 16 | .385 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cornell | 5 | – | 9 | .357 | 7 | – | 19 | .269 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Harvard | 5 | – | 9 | .357 | 6 | – | 20 | .231 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rankings from AP Poll[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Using the Princeton offense, the team posted a 22–6 overall record, which included a fifteen-game winning streak, and a 12–2 conference record.[2] In a March 19, 1992 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament East Regional first-round game at the Centrum Centre in Worcester, Massachusetts against the Syracuse Orange, they lost by a 51–43 margin.[2][3][6] A streak of fourteen consecutive Syracuse points by Lawrence Moten sealed Princeton's fate in the second half.[4] The team claims to have been the only team in the tournament that did not have any players that averaged at least 12 points per game.[7]
The team was led by first team All-Ivy League selections Sean Jackson, who gave Princeton its fourth consecutive Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Year awardee. Rick Hielscher earned Ivy League Men's Basketball Rookie of the Year honors.[3] The team won the fourth of twelve consecutive national statistical championships in scoring defense with a 48.9 points allowed average.[8]
Schedule and results
The team posted a 22–6 (12–2 Ivy League) record.[9]
| Date time, TV | Rank# | Opponent# | Result | Record | Site city, state | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season | |||||||||||
| Nov 20, 1991* | Monmouth Preseason NIT | W 58–47 | 1–0 | Jadwin Gymnasium Princeton, New Jersey | |||||||
| Nov 21, 1991* | at Texas Preseason NIT | L 46–57 | 1–1 | Frank Erwin Center Austin, Texas | |||||||
| Nov 30, 1991* | Lafayette | W 72–49 | 2–1 | Jadwin Gymnasium Princeton, New Jersey | |||||||
| Dec 3, 1991* | Rutgers | L 41–46 | 2–2 | Jadwin Gymnasium Princeton, New Jersey | |||||||
| Dec 6, 1991* | vs. Hofstra Dr. Pepper Invitational | W 54–42 | 3–2 | Ferrell Center Waco, Texas | |||||||
| Dec 7, 1991* | at Baylor Dr. Pepper Invitational | W 61–54 | 4–2 | Ferrell Center Waco, Texas | |||||||
| Dec 13, 1991 | vs. Oral Roberts Cougar Classic | W 64–55 | 5–2 (1–0) | Marriott Center Provo, Utah | |||||||
| Dec 14, 1991* | at BYU Cougar Classic | L 59–65 | 5–3 | Marriott Center Provo, Utah | |||||||
| Dec 18, 1991* | at NC State | W 50–47 | 6–3 | Reynolds Coliseum Raleigh, North Carolina | |||||||
| Dec 21, 1991* | at La Salle | W 47–46 | 7–3 | Convention Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |||||||
| Jan 4, 1992* | at Loyola (MD) | W 47–46 | 8–3 | Reitz Arena Baltimore, Maryland | |||||||
| Jan 8, 1992* | Iona | W 68–51 | 9–3 | Jadwin Gymnasium Princeton, New Jersey | |||||||
| Jan 11, 1992 | Penn | W 55–42 | 10–3 (1–0) | Jadwin Gymnasium Princeton, New Jersey | |||||||
| Jan 27, 1992* | Franklin & Marshall | W 80–45 | 11–3 | Jadwin Gymnasium Princeton, New Jersey | |||||||
| Jan 31, 1992 | at Harvard | W 67–44 | 12–3 (2–0) | Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, Massachusetts | |||||||
| Feb 1, 1992 | at Dartmouth | W 83–44 | 13–3 (3–0) | Leede Arena Hanover, New Hampshire | |||||||
| Feb 4, 1992 | at Penn | W 42–40 | 14–3 (4–0) | The Palestra Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |||||||
| Feb 7, 1992 | Columbia | W 71–55 | 15–3 (5–0) | Jadwin Gymnasium Princeton, New Jersey | |||||||
| Feb 8, 1992 | Cornell | W 48–31 | 16–3 (6–0) | Jadwin Gymnasium Princeton, New Jersey | |||||||
| Feb 14, 1992 | at Brown | W 79–54 | 17–3 (7–0) | Pizzitola Sports Center Providence, Rhode Island | |||||||
| Feb 15, 1992 | at Yale | W 46–35 | 18–3 (8–0) | John J. Lee Ampitheater New Haven, Connecticut | |||||||
| Feb 21, 1992 | Dartmouth | W 48–36 | 19–3 (9–0) | Jadwin Gymnasium Princeton, New Jersey | |||||||
| Feb 22, 1992 | Harvard | W 87–50 | 20–3 (10–0) | Jadwin Gymnasium Princeton, New Jersey | |||||||
| Feb 28, 1992 | Yale | L 46–47 | 20–4 (10–1) | Jadwin Gymnasium Princeton, New Jersey | |||||||
| Feb 29, 1992 | Brown | W 58–49 | 21–4 (11–1) | Jadwin Gymnasium Princeton, New Jersey | |||||||
| Mar 6, 1992 | at Cornell | L 66–70 | 21–5 (11–2) | Newman Arena Ithaca, New York | |||||||
| Mar 7, 1992 | at Columbia | W 65–51 | 22–5 (12–2) | Levien Gymnasium New York, New York | |||||||
| NCAA tournament | |||||||||||
| Mar 20, 1992* | (11 E) | vs. (6 E) No. 21 Syracuse First round | L 43–51 | 22–6 | Centrum in Worcester Worcester, Massachusetts | ||||||
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. | |||||||||||