Tigers lose home opener to FIU
By: Justin Feil
When the Princeton University men’s basketball team built a quick lead in the first half, Florida International University had a response. In the second half, it was the Tigers that had to answer every FIU run, and more often than not, it came by way of the three-pointer.
In overtime, however, that three-point weapon disappeared as the Golden Panthers escaped with the first visitor win in a Jadwin Gym home opener in six years, 68-65, Saturday.
"This today is very disappointing," said Princeton head coach John Thompson after his team slipped to 1-2 going into tonight’s 7 p.m. game at Monmouth. "There’s no other way to put it. Today is very, very disappointing for a lot of different reasons."
No. 1 would be that the Tigers seemingly lost much of the momentum they built with a solid start at the Sooner Invitational tournament. The No. 2 reason might be that the Tigers, except for jumping out to leads of 9-2 and 16-9, didn’t seem as excited for the game as FIU.
"Everyone seemed kind of flat out there," said Spencer Gloger, who led the Tigers with 19 points, but shot just 4-for-13 from three-point range. "A loss is a loss. We should have had a revenge factor from last year."
Princeton was 0-for-4 from three-point range after a controversial non call sent the game into overtime, and shot 32 percent from beyond the arc for the game, while FIU’s Slavcho Slavtchev hit two from beyond the arc to open overtime. FIU allowed Princeton several chances at that revenge in the final minute of overtime, but the Tigers could not capitalize.
After FIU’s Junior Matias hit the second of two free throws with 3.0 seconds left, Ed Persia was fouled just over halfcourt, but missed his first free throw and had a shooter’s violation on the second with .3 seconds left when his intentional miss did not hit the rim. It was the first of three puzzling plays.
Though the Tigers seemed ready to concede then with mere ticks of a second on the clock, the Golden Panthers then threw the ball the length of the court out of bounds with .3 seconds left to give Princeton the ball back under its own basket. Despite trailing by three, however, Princeton’s inbounds pass went into Ray Robins, who was positioned inside the three-point line, and his tip shot sailed long.
"It felt like we came out well," said Robins, who finished with 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting. "We had a decent lead in the beginning. Then we just didn’t run our stuff. We got out of our stuff."
Princeton jumped to a 14-6 lead on the strength of three three-pointers, but couldn’t shake the Golden Panthers, who switched to an effective zone defense shortly after. FIU held Princeton scoreless for 5:23 and cut the lead to 16-13 before a layup by Mike Stephens put the Tigers on the board again.
Princeton seemed to struggle with the zone throughout the game, and when FIU went back to man-to-man, the Tigers couldn’t solve that either. In all, Princeton turned the ball over a season-high 19 times.
"We had a chance to take control of the game in the first half and didn’t," Thompson said. "They did a very good job of doing what we normally do and control the pace of the game. I think in the first half, we were too content to pass around the perimeter. We didn’t try to get it inside then back outside. And a couple things didn’t go our way. We throw it to Mike Stephens and he dropped one or two. We got a couple layups out of it and they didn’t go in.
"Initially we were getting what we wanted, to be honest. We got layups and a bunch of wide-open shots. The ball just didn’t go in. They did a terrific job on defense. They have fast guys. They have fast hands. They play together."
Despite Princeton’s troubles with the FIU defense, the Tigers were in perfect position to win it in regulation. After a follow by FIU’s Nikola Novakovic with 31.7 seconds left in the second half tied the game, 54-54, Princeton had the ball with the chance to win it. But Will Venable had trouble bringing the ball up against pressure and the initial play never developed before the Golden Panthers knocked Spencer Gloger’s drive away with 3.3 seconds left.
After a timeout, Kyle Wente took the inbounds pass and was tripped dribbling toward the basket right in front of the Princeton bench. No call ensued, and Wente’s game-winning attempt from his knees hit the side of the backboard. The non call drew the ire of the Princeton bench and Thompson, who was clear when asked whether he felt Wente was tripped.
"He was," said the third-year head coach, who explained what Princeton was looking for after Novakovic’s basket. "We thought we’d get a shot at the top for Spencer. They guarded that well and then he got the drive, and I’d have to see the tape to see if he got fouled on that. He had the shot or the drive. I thought we’d get either of those."
Instead, Princeton saw its final chance tripped up by the Golden Panthers. FIU seemed galvanized by its second-half play, while the Tigers never recovered from Slavtchev’s three-pointers that had them behind, 60-54, just 1:08 into overtime.
Princeton just couldn’t get the one big play it needed to pull away early, or a bigger play toward the finish to overcome the feisty Golden Panthers.
Gloger, who added a team-high nine rebounds to his 19 points, said the biggest positive is that the Tigers play again so quickly. Thompson hopes an in-state face-off with Monmouth will be enough to show that Princeton learned a valuable lesson with Saturday’s loss.
"What’s important is to prepare and get ready for league play," he said. "That’s what the whole preseason is about. And we will continue to get together and improve. I thought tonight was a poor showing. There’s no other way to put it. We’ll see."