PU Men’s Hoops Looks Rusty in Loss to Wake, Vows to Be Sharper for Ivy Opener Against Penn
Playing at Wake Forest on New Year’s Eve, the Princeton University men’s basketball team was looking to end 2014 on a high note.
The Tigers jumped out to a 14-11 lead against their ACC foe in the contest that was broadcast nationally on ESPN3. The Demon Deacons responded with a 19-4 run as they took a 32-20 lead into halftime.
In the second half, Princeton narrowed the gap to 63-56 on a Steven Cook lay-up with 7:06 remaining in regulation but never got closer as Wake Forest pulled away to an 80-66 victory.
In reflecting on the setback, which dropped the Tigers to 5-9, Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson acknowledged that his squad wasn’t at its sharpest.
“Boy were we rusty; Wake Forest had something to do with that,” said Henderson in his post-game interview video on the Princeton Athletics website.
“They were better than us today in a lot of different ways. Everything we did they had an answer. They made some huge shots. I thought both the kid (Cornelius) Hudson and (Mitchell) Wilbekin were answering very nicely what we were doing.”
With Princeton having posted wins over Lipscomb (77-55 on December 19) and Liberty (65-47 on December 22) coming into the game with Wake, Henderson was hoping that his team would continue that nice run.
“I have been pretty pleased with our group, we have been playing pretty well,” said Henderson who got 17 points from sophomore Cook in the defeat with junior Han Brase adding 13 and freshman Amir Bell chipping in 11. “I was a little surprised by us tonight.”
The Tigers will look to play better as they were slated to host Norfolk State on January 6 before hosting Penn (3-7) on January 10 in the Ivy League opener for both teams.
“It was a tough one for us,” said Henderson, whose team was outrebounded 45-27 by Wake and made just 6-of-12 free throws.
“We are moving on. We have got the league coming up soon so we have to get ready. It comes down to little things, we have got to be really good at those things and right now we are not.”