Yichang Challenger Recap

Author

Princeton3x3
August 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 recapping the 2023 Yichang (China) Challenger where we saw another quality performance from Princeton 3×3, the 17th-ranked team in the world.

Damon Huffman, Zahir Carrington, Isaiah Wilkerson, Henry Folger Caruso. This was the group’s first time playing together.

Final result

Overview

  • 2nd Place

  • $12,000 Prize

  • Constanta (Romania) Masters Invitation

It’s always a little disappointing when we don’t win a tournament, but we’re proud of our effort in Yichang, especially considering the conditions - 30 hours of travel, last-minute roster changes due to visa issues, 100 °F, and 100% humidity 🥵

Bracket

Highlights

Caruso’s backdoor to beat Futian

Zahir’s monster block

Zay’s drive and finish

Princeton summary

Damon Huffman

We split our pair of pool play games, beating Zigui (CHN) 22-10 and losing to Wuhan (CHN), 19-20.

We faced off against the tournament’s top seed, Futian (CHN), in the quarterfinals, winning 21-18. Caruso’s dunk following a backdoor cut - a Princeton signature - sealed the win on offense, but the team really executed on defense.

A semifinal win against Toronto (CAN), 18-16, punched our ticket to the finals.

The finals matchup was our first time playing Wuxi (CHN) and Marko Radonjic. He caught fire, hitting 6-of-8 2PT, leading Wuxi to a 22-16 win.

Isaiah Wilkerson

Princeton’s tournament leaders

  • 🪣 Points: Henry Folger Caruso (6.4 PPG)

  • 🧽 Rebounds: Henry Folger Caruso (6.0 RPG)

  • 🥽 Key Assists: Damon Huffman (8)

  • 🧤 Blocks: Zahir Carrington (2)

  • 🔨 Dunks: Henry Folger Caruso (5)

  • 🏎️ Drives: Isaiah Wilkerson (7)

  • 🔥 Shooting Efficiency: Henry Folger Caruso (0.62)

Tournament summary

Yichang Challenger venue

The venue was on the banks of the Three Gorges Dam, the largest man-made dam in the world, and an engineering marvel. The area surrounding the court was very scenic, although you couldn’t tell from the game footage.

We were one of the only non-federation-backed teams that traveled to the event without any additional staff. Since we don't have coaches, physios, or trainers with us, we each bring a variety of fitness and recovery tools to get our bodies ready to compete after such grueling travel. Above you’ll see Zahir wearing an Infraway L1 device which is a heating pad for the back that can be controlled via Bluetooth. It’s great for using on flights and aiding in stretching.

Damon’s using a Chinese reflexology footboard that’s supposed to have lots of health benefits. This one belongs to Isaiah, but Henry is also a big believer and owns the team record of 7 minutes. They can be pretty painful to stand on.

Princeton cooling off in the bus between games

Did we mention it was hot?? It was so hot that some of the teams were getting IVs and oxygen between games. This is a picture of us sitting in the bus after our quarterfinal win against Futian, resting and trying to cool off before the next game. It was the only place that had air conditioning. The other team on the bus is Futian - they were headed back to the hotel after the loss 🥶

Orange soda anyone?

We enjoy traveling and experiencing new cultures when playing internationally. Sometimes the language barriers can get tricky, though. You can see here that we ended up with a bunch of orange sodas at the Chinese BBQ spot even though we really wanted Coke and Sprite lol. Despite all the healthy snacks Henry brought for the team, Zahir still lost 10 pounds on the trip.

Looking for more stories from the trip? Watch the latest from Zahir and Damon

Upcoming Princeton schedule

One weekend off and then we make our way to Lausanne, Switzerland for our 2nd Masters tournament of the season. The Lausanne Masters is one of the top events of the year and also one of the longest-standing Masters event on the pro circuit.

Thanks for reading!