Men’s Basketball Finishes a Tough Season with Ivy Madness Loss to Yale

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island — With Princeton men’s basketball trailing Yale by two in the closing seconds, Xaivian Lee ’26 took a 3-point shot that hit the back rim and the Bulldogs held on for the victory, 59–57, in the Ivy League Tournament semifinal. 

Yale won the tip-off and went on a 12–0 run to open the game. The Tigers clawed their way back with 3-pointers from Dalen Davis ’27, Blake Peters ’25, and Lee. A steal by Peters and another trey put the Tigers down just 31-25 at the half. The Tigers were outrebounded 20–12 in the first half, allowing Yale to pick up second chance points.

Princeton continued chipping into Yale’s advantage, and with seven and a half minutes left in the game, head coach Mitch Henderson ’98 addressed the team.

“The game has totally switched,” he told them. “We need to make sure it doesn’t switch back.”

Princeton took its first lead off a 3-pointer from CJ Happy ’28 with three and a half minutes left in the game.

Yale’s Bez Mbeng, who won Ivy League player of the year and defensive player of the year, made a layup and Lee fouled him to send him to the line for a 3-point play. Lee responded, making a 3-point shot shortly afterward to put the Tigers back up, 57-56. But an incredible three from John Poulakidas, leaning to his right near the Yale bench, put Princeton down two with a minute left. 

“That’ll eat at me forever,” said Peters, who was guarding Poulakidas. “But things like that happen.”

There appeared to be confusion among both teams during the next Yale possession. With just seconds left, it seemed like Princeton was planning to foul — but both Lee and Peters already had four fouls. Poulakidas committed a shot clock violation, turning the ball over to Princeton with 6.6 seconds left. The Tigers got the ball and called timeout. At first, it looked like there were 3.8 seconds remaining, but the officials put 5.4 back on the clock. 

“Can anyone explain to me why there were six seconds instead of three?” asked Yale head coach James Jones in the press conference. “That was rhetorical,” he added, when a member of the media said he didn’t know.

Coming back onto the court, Lee took a 3-point shot he’s taken and made five times this season — but missed it. Peters got the rebound, but with no timeouts left, the clock expired and Yale took the victory. 

“We knew it was gonna be in the hands of Xaivian Lee at the end of the game,” said Yale forward Nick Townsend. 

“I gotta make that shot,” Lee said quietly at the postgame press conference.

“We had a shot at the end of the game to win the game, and I’m happy about that,” said Henderson. 

Jacob Huggins ’27 (11 points) and Davis (11 points) both had impressive performances, and Peters and Lee each scored 14.

Henderson admitted that Huggins could have played more earlier in the season. 

“Gotta blame the coach on that one. That’s on me,” he said. 

With six assists, Lee became the all-time single-season assist leader with 165, passing Tosan Evbuomwan ’23 and Bill Ryan ’84. The game was incredibly physical — Princeton committed 17 fouls and Yale nine. 

The Tigers were the favorite to win the league at the beginning of the season. But from their season opener Princeton struggled to establish leadership on the court. The departure of veterans Matt Allocco ’24 (grad transfer to Notre Dame) and Zach Martini ’24 (grad transfer to Rutgers) left a relatively young Princeton team quiet and in disarray.

“I think maybe I’ve showed my frustration — maybe a little too much — to the guys. Boy, there’s a lot of things about us that could be great,” Henderson told reporters after the Tigers’ regular season finale, a March 8 win over Penn. “The main thing about us is one through 15 being all on the same page. That’s been our challenge all season.”

Lee led the team in scoring, averaging 17 points per game and earning two triple-doubles — the first in program history. Lee’s status next year appears to be an open question: Last year he declared for the NBA draft before withdrawing and returning to Princeton the night of the deadline. 

Eighteen of Princeton’s 30 games were decided by 10 points or less, often including second half comebacks from double digit deficits, and the Tigers’ knack for eking out wins faded. Even after wins, Lee and Henderson were at times visibly frustrated and hard on themselves in press conferences. 

“I think for me personally, today was — I can’t, like, describe [it],” Lee said after Princeton’s close win at home over Columbia. “If I describe how I thought I played, I wouldn’t be able to … just offensively, defensively. I was terrible.” 

Lee had 19 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists in that game. But it looked like the junior was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. 

Caden Pierce ’26 suffered an ankle injury early in the season in a game against Akron and struggled under the basket more than he had in his prior seasons with the Tigers. The lack of an authoritative inside player hurt Princeton, especially in Ivy League play. Peters lit up the court as an outside threat, finishing his career with 204 3-pointers — seventh all-time at Princeton.

“This was my dream my whole life, and I got to live that out every day,” said Peters, choking up after the Ivy Tournament loss. “So I’m just thankful for that.”

Ultimately, it wasn’t enough to propel the Tigers past the Bulldogs. 

“Wasn’t my best year,” said Henderson. “But tonight I thought we showed what we could be.”