1975–76 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team
The 1975–76 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team represented Princeton University in intercollegiate college basketball during the 1975–76 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The head coach was Pete Carril and the team co-captains were Armond Hill and Michael Steuerer. The team played its home games in the Jadwin Gymnasium on the university campus in Princeton, New Jersey. It was the undefeated Ivy League and earned birth in the 32-team 1976 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
| 1975–76 Princeton Tigers men's basketball | |
|---|---|
Undefeated Ivy League Champion | |
1976 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, Regional quarterfinals | |
| Conference | Ivy League |
| Ranking | |
| Coaches | No. 19t |
| Record | 22–5 (14–0, 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 | 14 | – | 0 | 1.000 | 22 | – | 5 | .815 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Penn | 11 | – | 3 | .786 | 17 | – | 9 | .654 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dartmouth | 7 | – | 7 | .500 | 16 | – | 10 | .615 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Columbia | 6 | – | 8 | .429 | 8 | – | 17 | .320 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Brown | 6 | – | 8 | .429 | 7 | – | 19 | .269 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yale | 5 | – | 9 | .357 | 7 | – | 21 | .250 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cornell | 4 | – | 10 | .286 | 8 | – | 18 | .308 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Harvard | 3 | – | 11 | .214 | 8 | – | 18 | .308 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The team posted a 22–5 overall record and a 14–0 conference record. No Ivy League team would go 14–0 again until the 1990–91 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team. The team lost its March 13, 1976 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament East Regional first round game against the No. 3 Rutgers Scarlett Knights 54–53 at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island.
During the season, the team spent two weeks of the seventeen-week season ranked in the Associated Press Top Twenty Poll, peaking at number fifteen and ending the season unranked. However, the team finished the season ranked tied at number nineteen in the final UPI Coaches' Poll. The team was the first of nineteen Princeton teams to win the national statistical championship in scoring defense with an average of 52.9 points allowed. That was an NCAA record (since 1965) that the team would break the following season. Ilan Ramati posted seven blocked shots against William & Mary on January 6, 1976, which established an Ivy League record that would stand until Chris Dudley had nine on February 14, 1987. It remains a league record for non-conference games. In the same game, Frank Sowinski made all twelve of his free throws to find his way into the Ivy League's record books although short of Bill Bradley's perfect 16 free throw night and the Ivy League record of 21. Michael Steurer had eight steals against Columbia on February 6, 1976, which established an Ivy League record that would stand until March 5, 1983.
The team was led by first team All-Ivy League selection Armond Hill, who was named Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Year, and by fellow first team selection Barnes Hauptfuhrer. Hill was selected in the 1976 NBA draft with the 9th overall selection in the first round by the Atlanta Hawks, while Hauptfuhrer was selected with the 43rd overall selection in the third round by the Houston Rockets. Hill repeated as the free throw percentage statistical champion with an 84.8% average. He also surpassed Tim van Blommesteyn's Ivy League single-season steals record set the prior season by one with 73, establishing a record that would last twenty-four years.