Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Princeton Tigers Have West Virginia’s Full Attention Ahead of Saturday’s NCAA Opener
March 19, 2024 03:38 PM | Women's Basketball, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – When West Virginia's NCAA Tournament pairing was revealed Sunday evening on ESPN's NCAA Tournament selection show, the players jumped up and down with excitement, as they normally do.
Standing behind them with a more tepid reaction, however, were their coaches. Reason No. 1 for that feeling was because they were going to Iowa City, Iowa - the new hotbed of women's college basketball with the Hawkeyes' sensational guard Caitlin Clark among the most recognizable faces in sports today. Reason No. 2 was because of their first-round opponent, Princeton, whose No. 9 seeding probably is underselling what the Tigers have accomplished this year under fifth-year coach Carla Berube, one of the hottest names in the coaching profession.
After winning more than 80% of her games at Division III Tufts, the former UConn player has transformed Princeton into the class of the Ivy League. In the last four years, her teams have won 53 of 56 conference games, captured four Ivy League titles and boast a 100-16 overall record.
Princeton's nonconference schedule this year included a cross-country trip to UCLA and San Diego, neutral-site games against Oklahoma and Indiana and regional matchups against Seton Hall, Villanova and Rutgers.
Princeton (25-4) lost by just three at UCLA, a two-seed in this year's NCAA Tournament, defeated Big 12 regular season champion Oklahoma by 14, lost to tournament four-seed Indiana by nine and have been in all 29 games it has played to date.
Berube's team also counts a five-point victory over Middle Tennessee State, which is in the tournament this year as an 11-seed, and finished the season with a NCAA NET ranking of 34.
The Tigers' only poor performance was a 60-58 loss at Rhode Island in early December.
"This is probably the best mid-range team we've seen, by percentage, all year," West Virginia coach Mark Kellogg said Tuesday morning. "Analytically, a lot of people don't think that's a great shot, but if you can get there and shoot the percentage these kids do, then it's very effective.
"They are a well-disciplined, well-oiled machine if you allow them to flow and run offense," Kellogg added.
The nucleus of Princeton's team has been together now for three years and revolves around senior guard Kaitlyn Chen, a San Marino, California, resident. Chen was involved in Princeton's 69-62 upset victory over SEC Tournament champion Kentucky in an NCAA Tournament first-round game two years ago in Bloomington, Indiana, and she played a major role in last year's 64-63 upset win over seventh-seeded NC State in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Princeton nearly knocked off Indiana on its home floor two years ago and lost by just seven to second-seeded Utah in its home arena last year.
That's how close the Tigers have come to reaching the Sweet 16 the last two years.
Chen, a 5-foot-9 guard, is averaging a team-best 15.8 points per game on an impressive 49.1% shooting to go along with a team-leading 145 assists. She scored a career-high 31 points in the Villanova win and has amassed 1,259 career points.
"She's really dynamic and runs the show for them," Kellogg said.
Madison St. Rose, a 5-foot-10 sophomore guard from Old Bridge, New Jersey, contributes 14.5 points while making a team-best 46 three-pointers. St. Rose put up 26 in her season-debut against Duquesne and scored more than 20 in games against San Diego, Oklahoma, Vermont, Cornell, Columbia and Penn.
She scored 19 against the Quakers in the Ivy League tournament and added 18 in the championship game against Columbia.
The player who does the team's dirty work at both ends of the floor is 6-foot-1 senior forward Ellie Mitchell, from Chevy Chase, Maryland. Mitchell is grabbing a team-best 10 rebounds per game, including 116 on the offensive glass. She has handed out 59 assists, made 43 steals, blocked 21 shots and is tops on the team with 83 fouls, leading to one disqualification.
Mitchell is easy to identify because of her unique 00 uniform number and the amount of padding she wears to cover her body.
"She is tough, physical and a fantastic rebounder," Kellogg said. "She even comes into the game with like arm sleeves, wrists taped up and leg sleeves. That kid is ready to go to battle, and you can tell by watching her. She was the defensive player of the year in their league, rightfully so."
Princeton is allowing its opponents to score just 55.9 points per game and has surrendered less than 60 points 18 times this year, including a season-low 25 in a 45-point win over Yale.
Defense is both teams' calling cards with West Virginia forcing an average of 23.9 turnovers per game, third best in the country.
"There are lots of different ways to do things, and we certainly do things a lot differently than they do," Kellogg said. "They are very good at what they do. They can get going in the full court and score in a hurry if you are not careful, and I think they are exceptional, elite, when they can run their offense in the half-court. The timing is great. They know what they're looking for, and they know their roles."
This is a team that shoots 45.8% from the floor, 70.9% from the free throw line and owns nearly a seven-rebound advantage on the glass.
Those are all traits teams of Berube's college coach, Geno Auriemma, have displayed during Connecticut's long run of dominance.
As a Husky player, Berube faced West Virginia three times during the 1996-97 seasons, including twice at the WVU Coliseum. Connecticut won a national championship in 1995 during her sophomore season, and she appeared in two Final Fours.
"Some of the offensive stuff with Chen's action might come from Geno's days, but at this point, she has put her own stamp on that program and done a tremendous job on both ends," Kellogg said. "I think you always take a little bit from who you are around and who you work for and those types of things."
West Virginia and Princeton have met once previously in a 2016 NCAA Tournament first round game at St. John's Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The Mountaineers outlasted the Tigers 74-65 on the strength of Bria Holmes' game-high 26 points.
WVU lost 88-81 two days later to ninth-ranked Ohio State.
West Virginia is making its 15th NCAA Tournament appearance and consecutive trips for the first time since 2016-17. Last year, the Mountaineers were bounced from the tournament by 25th-ranked Arizona in College Park, Maryland, in their opening game.
WVU is 4-5 in its last nine NCAA games but has never strung together multiple wins in its tournament history, reaching the Sweet 16 just once, in 1992, when there were only 48 teams in the tournament.
West Virginia has won 24 games in Kellogg's initial season here, the most by any first-year coach in school history.
Saturday's game is scheduled to tip off at 5:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
The winner will meet the winner of the Iowa vs. Holy Cross/UT Martin winner on Monday, March 25.
Standing behind them with a more tepid reaction, however, were their coaches. Reason No. 1 for that feeling was because they were going to Iowa City, Iowa - the new hotbed of women's college basketball with the Hawkeyes' sensational guard Caitlin Clark among the most recognizable faces in sports today. Reason No. 2 was because of their first-round opponent, Princeton, whose No. 9 seeding probably is underselling what the Tigers have accomplished this year under fifth-year coach Carla Berube, one of the hottest names in the coaching profession.
After winning more than 80% of her games at Division III Tufts, the former UConn player has transformed Princeton into the class of the Ivy League. In the last four years, her teams have won 53 of 56 conference games, captured four Ivy League titles and boast a 100-16 overall record.
Princeton's nonconference schedule this year included a cross-country trip to UCLA and San Diego, neutral-site games against Oklahoma and Indiana and regional matchups against Seton Hall, Villanova and Rutgers.
Princeton (25-4) lost by just three at UCLA, a two-seed in this year's NCAA Tournament, defeated Big 12 regular season champion Oklahoma by 14, lost to tournament four-seed Indiana by nine and have been in all 29 games it has played to date.
Berube's team also counts a five-point victory over Middle Tennessee State, which is in the tournament this year as an 11-seed, and finished the season with a NCAA NET ranking of 34.
The Tigers' only poor performance was a 60-58 loss at Rhode Island in early December.
"This is probably the best mid-range team we've seen, by percentage, all year," West Virginia coach Mark Kellogg said Tuesday morning. "Analytically, a lot of people don't think that's a great shot, but if you can get there and shoot the percentage these kids do, then it's very effective.
"They are a well-disciplined, well-oiled machine if you allow them to flow and run offense," Kellogg added.
The nucleus of Princeton's team has been together now for three years and revolves around senior guard Kaitlyn Chen, a San Marino, California, resident. Chen was involved in Princeton's 69-62 upset victory over SEC Tournament champion Kentucky in an NCAA Tournament first-round game two years ago in Bloomington, Indiana, and she played a major role in last year's 64-63 upset win over seventh-seeded NC State in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Princeton nearly knocked off Indiana on its home floor two years ago and lost by just seven to second-seeded Utah in its home arena last year.
That's how close the Tigers have come to reaching the Sweet 16 the last two years.
Chen, a 5-foot-9 guard, is averaging a team-best 15.8 points per game on an impressive 49.1% shooting to go along with a team-leading 145 assists. She scored a career-high 31 points in the Villanova win and has amassed 1,259 career points.
"She's really dynamic and runs the show for them," Kellogg said.
Madison St. Rose, a 5-foot-10 sophomore guard from Old Bridge, New Jersey, contributes 14.5 points while making a team-best 46 three-pointers. St. Rose put up 26 in her season-debut against Duquesne and scored more than 20 in games against San Diego, Oklahoma, Vermont, Cornell, Columbia and Penn.
She scored 19 against the Quakers in the Ivy League tournament and added 18 in the championship game against Columbia.
The player who does the team's dirty work at both ends of the floor is 6-foot-1 senior forward Ellie Mitchell, from Chevy Chase, Maryland. Mitchell is grabbing a team-best 10 rebounds per game, including 116 on the offensive glass. She has handed out 59 assists, made 43 steals, blocked 21 shots and is tops on the team with 83 fouls, leading to one disqualification.
Mitchell is easy to identify because of her unique 00 uniform number and the amount of padding she wears to cover her body.
"She is tough, physical and a fantastic rebounder," Kellogg said. "She even comes into the game with like arm sleeves, wrists taped up and leg sleeves. That kid is ready to go to battle, and you can tell by watching her. She was the defensive player of the year in their league, rightfully so."
Princeton is allowing its opponents to score just 55.9 points per game and has surrendered less than 60 points 18 times this year, including a season-low 25 in a 45-point win over Yale.
Defense is both teams' calling cards with West Virginia forcing an average of 23.9 turnovers per game, third best in the country.
"There are lots of different ways to do things, and we certainly do things a lot differently than they do," Kellogg said. "They are very good at what they do. They can get going in the full court and score in a hurry if you are not careful, and I think they are exceptional, elite, when they can run their offense in the half-court. The timing is great. They know what they're looking for, and they know their roles."
This is a team that shoots 45.8% from the floor, 70.9% from the free throw line and owns nearly a seven-rebound advantage on the glass.
Those are all traits teams of Berube's college coach, Geno Auriemma, have displayed during Connecticut's long run of dominance.
As a Husky player, Berube faced West Virginia three times during the 1996-97 seasons, including twice at the WVU Coliseum. Connecticut won a national championship in 1995 during her sophomore season, and she appeared in two Final Fours.
"Some of the offensive stuff with Chen's action might come from Geno's days, but at this point, she has put her own stamp on that program and done a tremendous job on both ends," Kellogg said. "I think you always take a little bit from who you are around and who you work for and those types of things."
West Virginia and Princeton have met once previously in a 2016 NCAA Tournament first round game at St. John's Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The Mountaineers outlasted the Tigers 74-65 on the strength of Bria Holmes' game-high 26 points.
WVU lost 88-81 two days later to ninth-ranked Ohio State.
West Virginia is making its 15th NCAA Tournament appearance and consecutive trips for the first time since 2016-17. Last year, the Mountaineers were bounced from the tournament by 25th-ranked Arizona in College Park, Maryland, in their opening game.
WVU is 4-5 in its last nine NCAA games but has never strung together multiple wins in its tournament history, reaching the Sweet 16 just once, in 1992, when there were only 48 teams in the tournament.
West Virginia has won 24 games in Kellogg's initial season here, the most by any first-year coach in school history.
Saturday's game is scheduled to tip off at 5:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
The winner will meet the winner of the Iowa vs. Holy Cross/UT Martin winner on Monday, March 25.
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