HOOPS HIATUS: Caden Pierce dribbles upcourt in a game last winter for the Princeton University men’s basketball team. Rising senior star forward Pierce announced last week that he will be taking a redshirt this winter, thereby forgoing his final campaign with the Tigers. Pierce, the 2023 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and the 2024 Ivy Player of the Year, will finish his studies at Princeton and enter the transfer portal in order to play his final college season at another school in 2026-27. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Adding another startling chapter to a turbulent offseason tale for the Princeton University men’s basketball program, rising senior star forward Caden Pierce announced last week that he will be taking a redshirt this winter, thereby forgoing his final season with the Tigers.

Instead, Pierce, the 2023 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and the 2024 Ivy Player of the Year, will finish his studies at Princeton and enter the transfer portal in order to play his last college campaign season at another school in 2026-27 where he can get substantial NIL (name, image and likeness) compensation.

Pierce’s decision is the latest in the series of unsettling moves around the program since the end of the disappointing 2024-25 campaign with associate head coach Brett McConnell and assistant coach Lawrence Rowley getting dismissed, All-Ivy guard Xaivian Lee transferring to Florida for a reported $6 million NIL and shoe deal, and reserve guard Jack Scott transferring to Duke.

Under head coach Mitch Henderson, the Tigers went 19-11 overall and 8-6 Ivy last winter but struggled down the stretch as they lost four of their last seven regular season games and then got edged by Yale in the Ivy semis to end their campaign.

In announcing his plan, Pierce told ESPN that while Princeton means a lot to him, the changes in the program and in the world of college basketball played a key part in his thinking.

“This decision is nothing against Princeton,” said Pierce in an interview with ESPN. “Princeton is forever my home, the school that believed in me coming out of high school. Everything we accomplished is far more than I could have ever imagined. What went into the decision: some of my teammates were leaving, two of our assistant coaches weren’t retained. And obviously the current landscape of college basketball is always sitting in the back of your mind. Those things kind of guided my decision.”

According to ESPN, Pierce, who is represented by Priority Sports, plans to enter the portal as soon as he is able to in the fall in order to give himself a comfortable timeline for his recruitment.

Over the course of his Princeton career, Pierce, a 6’7, 220-pound native of Glen Ellyn, Ill. tallied 1,069 points and 710 rebounds in 90 games. As a freshman, he averaged 8.2 points and 7.2 rebounds a game to help Princeton win the Ivy League Tournament and make a historic run to the NCAA Sweet 16. A year later, he averaged 16.6 points and 9.2 rebounds on the way to earning Ivy Player of the Year honors as the Tigers made the NIT.

Last winter, Pierce was hampered by an ankle injury but still managed to average 11.2 rebounds and 7.2 rebounds in earning second-team All-Ivy honors.