PRINCETON — The challenge facing Princeton men’s basketball coach Mitch Henderson is finding a way to mix and match lineups that can give the Tigers quality depth and compensate for their lack of size. Princeton (6-3) has already absorbed as many losses as it did in the entire regular season last winter (24-3), but that’s the nature of the beast sometimes when you deal with roster turnover and other programs are gunning for you. Henderson and the Tigers were able to conduct more self-evaluation Wednesday when they hosted Nazareth University upon return from the Myrtle Beach Invitational. In racing to a 99-63 win, Princeton had 13 different scorers and deployed all 16 players on the roster besides junior guard Jack Scott, who is nursing a thumb injury and could return to the court this weekend. “Minutes for everybody, heart rate going way us,” Henderson said when asked what he wanted to get out of hosting a Division III opponent. “We needed to play and just go and run and get it out of our system and smile. It was a really long trip (to South Carolina).” Freshmen CJ Happy and Peyton Seals were two players who had a chance to grow with 18 points and 16 points off the bench, respectively. Happy also tallied five rebounds, one steal and one assist. Seals added five rebounds and five assists. For Happy, a product of Milton Academy in Massachusetts, it was another important confidence builder at the college level after undergoing a small knee procedure over the summer. “Coach gave us a lot of confidence with the bigs specifically to shoot the ball a little bit, and I think that really helped me and Philip (Byriel),” Happy said. “I feel like every single game, every time I step out on the court, I’m just getting more and more comfortable and starting to get back into my body.” Happy gives Princeton some valuable outside shooting and versatility at 6-foot-9. He also had 16 points and four rebounds in Princeton’s win over Portland on Sunday in South Carolina. He played 34 minutes in these last two games after totaling 18 minutes in his first six career games. “It’s like a dream. I love it,” Henderson said of having a player with Happy’s frame at his disposal. “CJ is very hard on himself and we want him to be the best version of himself going into each game, so the more opportunities he’s getting to play … he’s performing and contributing.” Henderson also praised Happy for being “tough and unafraid of nothing.” That will be put to the test with bigger upcoming nonconference games against Saint Joseph’s next Tuesday, Furman next Saturday, Monmouth on Dec. 10 and Rutgers on Dec. 21. “Now the stakes go up, right? The level of competition goes up, and he’s ready for that,” Henderson said. “He just needs to do it and be in it. But it really makes us difficult to guard when you have that kind of shooting at the big man spot.” Seals, meanwhile, was a two-time New Jersey high school basketball state champion in Group III with Ramapo, which beat Nottingham in the 2023 final. He is a 6-foot-4 guard who could also play a bigger role for Princeton down the road. “Definitely the physicality and speed of the game is a big step up, but I think it’s been a good adjustment, and my teammates, especially the older guys, they’re super helpful in practice,” Seals said. “I think just playing against the guys in practice, we’re super competitive, so I think that makes the transition to the game much easier.” Nine different Princeton players have been in the starting lineup this season as Henderson searches for different size combinations. Reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Caden Pierce, along with Xaivian Lee and Dalen Davis, have started in all nine games. Blake Peters, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, and Byriel, a 6-foot-9 senior forward, have also started in the past three games. “When you have a shooting five out there, we like those combinations,” Henderson said. “We obviously have to find a group that works against every team that we’re gonna be seeing, but Philip getting confidence, shooting the way he shot tonight (12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from 3), that really helps us. Our numbers offensively are fine. We have to continue to guard. We’ve got three bigs to do that, and we’re gonna figure out every way we can do it.” After not having many practices lately because they got back into Princeton late on Monday from the South Carolina trip, the Tigers are set to hit the court again right after Thanksgiving to prepare for their road matchup with Saint Joseph’s (5-2). The Princeton lost a 74-70 nailbiter when the teams met last December in Philadelphia. The Hawks have beaten Navy, Villanova, Penn, Texas Tech and Coppin State this season. “Now it’s just know-how,” Henderson said of his young team’s development. “You’ve got to go on the road against a really difficult, athletic St. Joe’s team, and you have to go through those things. And we may fail at those things, but we’ve got to have those experiences together as a group. … It’s a great challenge for us.”