Noah Savage didn't belong on the bench.
At least not the Noah Savage that was one of Princeton's top players in his freshman and sophomore seasons. The one that started 55 games in a row to begin his college career and averaged 6.4 points in his first season and 10 points in his second.
But in his junior year, that's exactly where he found himself.
The 6-foot-5 swingman had been a favorite of former coach Joe Scott, but he saw his minutes cut drastically from 31.6 to 13.8 per game between his sophomore and junior years as Scott started giving Savage's minutes to other players.
Now, however, Savage is a co-captain in his senior year. And more importantly, he's back in the starting five.
"Every player wants to play, for sure," Savage said.
"I just tried to do what my role was last year, but obviously I think everyone wants to play as much as possible."
This season, Savage has started every game and averaged 7.6 points and 2.7 rebounds in 25.3 minutes per game. They are modest numbers, perhaps deflated by the molasses-slow Princeton offense.
While he wouldn't comment on whether Scott gave a reason for his demotion last season, Savage is certainly happy to be back where he feels that he belongs.
"I definitely love it," he said. "I love to play and I'm glad I'm on the court."
Savage has become one of the Tigers' trademark sharpshooters from outside, hitting three-pointers at a rate of 1.4 per game, good for a respectable 33 percent.
And even the young Quakers have seen plenty of this from him before.
Savage spent last summer playing ball in Philadelphia, competing against Penn's Jack Eggleston, Harrison Gaines and Andreas Schreiber.
They know as well as anyone that while he may not be a game-breaker, Penn won't be able to count on him missing very many open looks.
"He's a perfectionist; he hates missing," Eggleston said.
"When we're doing shooting drills he'll miss one or two, and he just gets really frustrated with himself. He's put a lot of work into it, and it's really shown."
That hard work put Savage just where he wanted to be: in position to get back in the starting lineup, and not just on Senior Night.
But his ascent back into the heart of the rotation in his final season is even sweeter because of his roots in central New Jersey.
Savage grew up in the small town of Princeton, N.J. during some of the Tigers' glory days.
It seemed only right for him to become a part of the tradition he had watched for years.
His career is now coming full-circle.
"I went to a lot of games in high school and I played pick-up with the guys at Princeton. I got to know them and I've always kind of been around the program," Savage said.
"It's been a real special experience."
