Constanta Masters Preview

Author

Princeton3x3
September 08, 2023

Welcome to the latest edition of The Drive! This is your inside pass into the world of 3×3, where we bring you behind-the-scenes access, game updates, and all the latest news straight from the court.

Today we are looking back at the Pont du Gard Challenger in France, and looking ahead to the Constanta Masters in Romania.

Pont du Gard Challenger recap

Princeton came away with a 3rd place finish (3-1), won $8,000 and qualified for the Amsterdam Masters (Oct 6-7). Our balanced attack was led by King McClure, who finished with 31 points (7.8 PPG) in 4 games, good for 4th highest at the event.

Tournament highlight

In the Quarterfinals, Princeton was down 18-13 to Raudondvaris (Ranked #5 in the World) and stormed back to win 21-19. Henry Caruso led the comeback with 6 straight points, including back-to-back 2-pointers, to tie the game 19-19. Tyrone Nash sealed the win with a clutch tip-in. Check out the thrilling comeback in the video below.

Constanta Masters

  • When: September 9-10

  • Where: Constanta, Romania 

  • Prize: $40,000

Constanta will be Princeton’s 3rd World Tour of the season. We finished 4th in Edmonton and 11th in Lausanne earlier in the season.

Princeton’s lineup

  • Damon Huffman: Rank - World #41, US #6

  • Henry Caruso: Rank - World #58, US #8

  • Tyrone Nash: Rank - World #112, US #13

  • Zahir Carrington: Rank - World #122, US #15

This will also be our 9th Pro-Circuit event of the season and the 3rd with this roster, the most of any roster for Princeton. It’s our most experienced group and probably our best defensive and rebounding lineup. 

Princeton’s pool

  • Game 1: Saturday, September 9th, 8:45 am PT: Princeton (7) vs Amsterdam (3) Netherlands

  • Game 2: Saturday, September 9th, 11:05 am PT: Princeton (7) vs Fribourg (10) Switzerland

Tournament field

This will be the first Masters of the season where the top-ranked team in the world won’t be participating. The field is wide open, with 10 of the top 30 teams in the world competing, including Antwerp (Belgium) and Raudondvaris (Lithuania). Both have won Masters tournaments this season so they could be considered the favorites. 

The week in between

Princeton spent the week between Pont du Gard and Constanta training in the Netherlands in preparation for the weekend’s Masters.

Princeton members, Henry Caruso, Zahir Carrington, Damon Huffman, and Tyrone Nash with members of Team Utrecht and other Dutch National 3×3 players.

What this weekend means

The cluster of teams mentioned last week ranked between #14-21 remain - still only 175,000 points separate the teams. With last week’s strong performance, Princeton moved up two spots from 19th to 17th. If we can put another strong performance together, 14th place is within reach, despite most teams in that cluster competing this weekend. Two Pro-circuit events are happening in the 3x3 universe this weekend, the Constanta Masters we’re playing in, and the Sansar (Mongolia) Challenger. Princeton looks to continue its march upward in the team points rankings as well as the World Tour Standings, with the hope of putting ourselves into position to make the World Tour Final at the end of the season.

Upcoming schedule

  • September 30-Oct 1, Split (Croatia) Challenger

  • October 1, 3x3 International Cup (Sacramento, CA)

  • October 6-7, Amsterdam (Netherlands) Masters

  • November 2-4, Neom (Saudi Arabia) Challenger

Thanks for reading!