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The phenomenon: Princeton's Xaivian Lee is taking college basketball by storm

Xaivian Lee’s first exposure to basketball did not go so well. Right away, as a 7-year-old at a camp run by NBA great and fellow Canadian Steve Nash, he wanted to quit.

“They had to put a hula hoop under the rim for me to shoot through because I couldn’t get the ball all the way up,” Lee said. “My mom was like, ‘You’ve got to just finish all the sessions and then we’ll see what happens.’”

What happened is something no one could predict. Lee got good, to the point where he caught the attention of another Toronto resident, Cordell Llewellyn, whose son Jaelin was playing at Princeton University. Cordell, who himself had laced it up at Wake Forest, sent a note to Tigers associate head coach Brett MacConnell.

“This kid Xaivian Lee, he’s small but he’s getting bigger,” it read. “You should watch his film.”

MacConnell saw a 5-foot-something toothpick with great ball skills. He predicted a growth spurt. Princeton started recruiting Lee.

“No one else did,” Lee said. “This was the only school I ever talked to.”

When Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson finally saw him play live, in the late spring of 2021, his eyes nearly fell out of his head.

“I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure I was the only one in the gym,” Henderson said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Three years later, heads are still turning. Now a 6-foot-3 sophomore at Old Nassau, Lee’s point-guard play is a driving force behind Princeton’s 15-1 record, but his star is rising beyond the Ivy League. He’s one of the best playmakers in the country – and a budding cultural phenomenon.

When Princeton won at Columbia last weekend, the stands in Levien Gymnasium were populated in part by local fans of Asian descent who were there just to root for him (a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, Lee has South Korean family roots). His Instagram page has 26,000 followers – more than anyone else in New Jersey college basketball. After Lee lit up Harvard for 33 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists (while committing just 1 turnover) at Jadwin Gym earlier this month, a line of fans formed seeking selfies.

“I see this thing really starting to explode,” MacConnell said.

Using both hands

From an early age, Lee was encouraged by his parents to play multiple sports – he was a shortstop and second baseman on the diamond in high school.

“My mom, as long as I could remember, made me do everything with my left hand – eat with my left, brush my teeth with my left, I even hold my phone on my left hand.” the righthander said. “She told me, you’ve got to use both hands for basketball.”

It paid off. Defenses can’t funnel Lee to one side or the other. He finishes at the rim with both hands. They can’t sag on him to clog the driving lanes, either, because he’s shooting 37 percent from 3-point range.

Princeton guard Xaivian Lee (4) shoots against Navy
Princeton guard Xaivian Lee (4) shoots against Navy

“Last year in one of the first practices he came off a ball screen and did one of his signature step-back moves – and sent one of our big guys flying across the floor,” fellow sophomore Caden Pierce said. “I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a freshman against a senior.’”

Lee came off the bench last season, helping Princeton win the Ivy League and advance to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16. This past summer he played on Canada’s junior national team, and he’s a candidate to represent the country in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

So far this season Lee is averaging 17.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists. He’s shooting 48 percent from the field and 86 percent from the free-throw line.

“His hand-eye coordination and his body balance are really high level,” said Henderson, a former Princeton star and basketball-baseball standout. “He does several things during a game that, it took me years to learn how to do just one of them.”

Lee is a natural. He’s also a workaholic.

“He’s in the gym all the time,” MacConnell said earlier this week. “This isn’t an accident. This morning he was here at 8:15. Practice was at 10:30.”

'Habits, not goals'

At another prominent mid-major, Lee would be ripe for plucking by a high-major via the transfer portal. That won’t happen. The culture is different at Princeton – given the life advantages of a degree from the nation’s leading university, no one transfers out before graduation.

Like his teammates, Lee is immersed in regular student life. His roommate was randomly selected by the school (Princeton does not allow roommate choice the first two years). He eats in the dining hall. Along with Pierce – another recruiting sleeper-turned-standout – he majors in economics and carries a daunting course load.

“I just finished our multivariable calculus exam,” Lee said. “It was definitely hard.”

Though mature for his age – “I focus on habits, not goals,” he said – Lee plays the game with a kid’s joy, his mop-top hair flapping as his improvisations leave defenders in the dust.

“I strike a balance between being locked in and letting go a little bit, letting loose,” he said. “This is the most fun I’ve had playing.”

As the wins pile up, folks are noticing. Over winter break the team had dinner at Conte’s Pizza – a favorite haunt of late Tigers legend Pete Carril – and a random customer picked up the tab. The crowd of 5,000 that packed Jadwin for Harvard was the program’s largest January turnout in many years.

Afterward, the kid who nobody else recruited was stunned to see a throng of people, many of them children, waiting around to meet him.

“I was in that position it felt like not that long ago,” he said. “This is what you dream of.”

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at  jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Princeton's Xaivian Lee is taking college basketball by storm