PRINCETON — The sky is not falling on Old Nassau.
It may have felt like that after a dispiriting 35-point loss in the opener, but Dalen Davis steadied the ship with a career-best 25 points and Princeton held off Bucknell, 76-66, to win the home opener on Tuesday night at Jadwin Gymnasium.
“All the guys are locked in,” said Davis, who matched the 25 points he scored last season in a victory over Northeastern. “Obviously, no one likes to lose, but we have some inexperience and I think the captains, a lot of the freshmen and the sophomores pulled in today and got the W.”
Princeton coach Mitch Henderson, right, talks with guard Dalen Davis, left against Bucknell during an NCAA men’s basketball game on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025 at Jadwin Gymnasium in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)
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Princeton coach Mitch Henderson, right, talks with guard Dalen Davis, left against Bucknell during an NCAA men’s basketball game on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025 at Jadwin Gymnasium in Princeton. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)
Davis did what the best player on the team is supposed to do when the game is on the line.
The junior captain made big shots both from the floor and free throw line.
Davis scored eight points in the final 1:40 as the Tigers (1-1) repelled every run the Bison (2-1) made at them.
“I think it’s the world resiliency,” Davis said when asked what he learned about the team on Tuesday night. “We’re all bought in, so it’s a good group to be around.”
Leading by four with 2:12 remaining, Princeton grabbed the offensive rebound off a missed free throw, then got a second offensive carom to keep the possession alive before Davies bullied a smaller defender in the post for a key bucket.
The Tigers got a stop on the next possession and Davis all but put the game away with another basket for an eight-point lead with 51 seconds to go.
“The guys trust me, coach trusts me to put the ball in my hands,” Davis said. “I’m one of the captains now, and it was me today, but it can be anybody. It can be a freshmen, a sophomore. I’m just glad it we got the win.”
The ball is going to be in Davis’ hands in close games to make the key decisions. Sometimes he’ll score it like he did on Tuesday, and other times he’ll dish it to a teammate.
“There’s going to be a game this season when somebody else has 25 and he has four assists and no turnovers in order for us to be successful. That’s just the way it’s going to go,” coach Mitch Henderson said.
But …
“I thought he was very good down the stretch,” Henderson said. “He made the biggest buckets when they mattered the most.”
Huggins comes up big
Jacob Huggins was sometimes a forgotten man last season, but he’s going to have a big role this year.
The junior captain finished with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists in 25 minutes off the bench.
The Tigers had to navigate foul trouble amongst the bigs — Huggins had four, CJ Happy three and Malik Abdullahi fouled out — to get to the finish line.
“They have big guys and we needed everybody’s help in terms of rebounding,” Huggins said. “We fouled a little bit, but it was fun. It was nice to be at home and bounce back after Saturday. We stayed bought in and it was a lot of fun to get the win.”
Huggins also connected on his first career 3-pointer.
“I’ve been working on it,” Huggins said with a smile and a laugh.
Not to be rattled
There was a sequence midway through the second half that may have been the one that won Princeton the game.
The Tigers had a fluky turnover when Davis threw an inbound pass off the underside of the backboard coming out of the under-12 timeout. Bucknell immediately scored to cut the lead to one.
How did Princeton respond?
Jack Stanton drilled a corner 3 for a 4-point lead, the defense got a stop and Landon Clarke splashed his lefty trey from the straight-away to push the advantage back to seven.
Bucknell only got as close as three the rest of the way.
“That was an important stretch, because those kind of plays we’ve been good at avoiding them, and it’s nice to make those kinds of mistakes and win,” Henderson said. “Every game comes down to four or five plays and we’ve been good at that lately — lately being years — but not on Saturday. I’m glad that we can flush that one.”
Up Next
The Tigers host Division III John Jay (0-2) on Thursday before facing to No. 25 Kansas on Saturday.
“Our schedule is brutal, so we are not going to discount anything on Thursday,” Henderson said. “We’ll get an opportunity to play some of the guys who don’t get to play a lot. They’ll get some important minutes.”
As for that trip to the hallowed Phog Allen Fieldhouse?
“Look, it’s Kansas, and this is the stuff we want to be a part of,” Henderson said. “We also know how difficult it is going to be. I think appriciating the opportunity and preparing them to win every single game, that’s my approach. Good players make good coaches, so hopefully they’ll be ready to go.”
