Way back when, Saturday KU foe Princeton booted Bill Self’s OSU Cowboys from NCAAs
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- Bill Self faces Princeton Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse; he played them in 1983.
- Princeton upset No. 5 Oklahoma State 56-53 in 1983 with slow, patient offense.
- Kansas will play without scorer Darryn Peterson; defense must curb threes and back-cuts.
Bill Self will be coaching a game against the Ivy League’s Princeton on Saturday for the first time in his 23 seasons at Kansas, as well as three at Illinois, three at Tulsa and four at Oral Roberts.
He does have some personal history with the Tigers, however.
As a sophomore guard at Oklahoma State, Self played the Tigers in the 1983 NCAA Tournament. As a 12-seed, Princeton stunned No. 5 OSU 56-53 in the first round of the West Regional on March 19, 1983 at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Oregon.
Self, OSU’s starting point guard at the time, scored eight points on 3-of-4 shooting (he was 2-of-4 from the free-throw line) with four rebounds and an assist in 28 minutes.
Craig Robinson, the current executive director of the NABC and brother of former First Lady Michelle Obama, scored 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting (4-of-5 FTs) with 16 rebounds and three blocks in 40 minutes for Princeton.
“I haven’t thought about that in 30 years, so no I don’t take extra pride in that whatsoever,” Self said, noting he’s not stressing over a game played so long ago.
Tipoff time for Saturday’s non-conference clash between the Jayhawks and Tigers is 1 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.
Princeton, which was known for its slower-paced, make-the-extra-pass style of play under Hall of Fame coach Pete Carril, hit eight of nine free throws in the final 69 seconds to knock off the Cowboys in ’83.
Oklahoma State, which a week earlier had scored 93 points against Missouri in a 93-92 double-overtime victory in the finals of the Big Eight tournament, had problems with Princeton’s pace.
“It was one of those nights you have nightmares about,” sophomore Self said at the time in an interview with the Oklahoman.
The Cowboys shot a chilly 28% in the second half against the Ivy Leaguers.
“Teams tend to underestimate us,” Carril told the Oklahoman after the victory. “We’re in a state of euphoria, obviously.”
The win was that Princeton team’s 11th straight.
’’We worked hard on defense to keep the ball out of the pivot,” Carril said. “We gave up the outside shot, but happily they didn’t make as many as they might have.
“Our team has to have something from everyone. If we don’t, then we have a lot of trouble. It’s nice to have people respect you, but it’s more important to respect yourself and we have that.”
OSU finished that season 23-7; Princeton, which lost to Boston College in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, went 20-9.
‘’Princeton played well,’’ then-OSU coach Paul Hansen said at the time. ‘’They were much more alert than we were. I was most disappointed in our rebounding.’’
Each team had 31 rebounds. Princeton, with the second-best defense in the country, held opponents to an average of 52.3 points per game in the regular season.
“I just wanted to grab one of their guys, shake him and scream, “Play, Play, Play’,” OSU’s Matt Clark said at the time. He led OSU with 15 points.
“They just pass the ball and pass it until they get a shot they want,” forward Raymond Crenshaw told the Oklahoman. “It seemed like sometime they were throwing it for five minutes at the time.”
“I know some people think our basketball is no fun,” said Princeton center Rich Simkus, who like Robinson had 20 points that day vs. Self and OSU. “But I enjoy it. I appreciate good passing. Larry Bird (of the Boston Celtics) is a great passer and people like to watch him play.”
What style does Princeton now play under 15th year coach Mitch Henderson?
“They’re shooting over 30 threes a game,” Self said Friday.
Princeton, which has defeated John Jay (100-59) and Bucknell (73-63) and lost at Akron (104-69), has made 33 of 94 3-point tries for 35.1%. KU has made 30 of 75 3-point attempts for 40%.
“They back cut the heck out of you, and we’ve struggled guarding back cuts,” Self said Friday. “If you can eliminate 3’s and back cuts that would probably be a pretty good formula to have at least a little bit of defensive success, because they can make you look pretty foolish with those two things”
Princeton has won the Ivy League title in three of the past four seasons.
“Historically Princeton has had one of the best programs,” Self said. “They probably do have the best program in the Ivy League with Yale. Yale has been on a roll lately but going back historically … they knocked me out of the NCAA Tournament when I was a player, way back when, when Craig Robinson was actually one of their starting forwards on that team.
“He had 20 (points)? I had eight? But my eight was really an impressive eight. I’m joking,” Self added, smiling.
The Princeton squad of 2025-26 has two double-digit scorers, in guards Dalen Davis (16.3 ppg) and Jackson Hicke (10.7). KU will be playing without star point guard Darryn Peterson (hamstring tightness), who averages 21.5 points a game.
After playing Princeton, KU will next face Duke at 8 p.m. Central time on Tuesday in the Champions Classic in New York.
