PU hoops faces big weekend

Tigers season on line at Yale, Brown

By: Justin Feil
   What’s the most important Ivy League weekend of the season? The answer is the same every week for the Princeton University men’s basketball team.
   It’s: "This weekend."
   This weekend is particularly big because of its competitive nature. It pairs parts of the three defending Ivy champs of a year ago — Princeton, Penn and Yale — with the one team this season with a shot at dethroning them — Brown.
   While Princeton tips off at Yale 7 p.m. tonight, Ivy unbeaten Penn plays at once-beaten Brown. Saturday, Princeton travels to Providence for a chance to avenge its 80-73 loss to the Bears while Penn is at Yale.
   "Without a doubt, it’s the biggest weekend yet," said PU coach John Thompson, whose squad is 13-9 overall, 7-2 in Ivy play. "We could have told you that at the beginning of the year. Each week is bigger than the last. It’s the nature of the Ivy League."
   The Tigers are undoubtedly in for a test tonight. The Bulldogs have topped Princeton in three of the last four meetings at the John J. Lee Ampitheatre, and the Tigers hold a slim 5-4 advantage in the teams’ last nine meetings.
   It won’t get any easier Saturday at Brown. The Bears won for the first time in 54 meetings at Princeton and are seeking the first season sweep by an Ivy team other than Penn since 1993, when Columbia did the trick.
   At Jadwin, the games were a sharp contrast. While Brown shot 61 percent from the floor in scoring more points against the Tigers than anyone since Harvard in 1999, Yale shot under 35 percent from the field in managing just 49 points.
   "I anticipate that this time will be different in that they’re going to be home," Thompson said. "They’re going to be much better than they were here. We know that we cannot have a performance like the one we had against Brown here. We allowed them to shoot 60 percent and a lot of them were easy shots. They were open shots. And we have to do a better job at Yale. Everything will be tougher."
   Making matters tougher, Princeton will be playing its second straight weekend without Spencer Gloger, who was ruled academically ineligible the Thursday prior to the Dartmouth game. And a week to adjust to losing Gloger hasn’t made things easier.
   "He’s our leading scorer, and our leading rebounder," Thompson said. "It’s not easy without him. Everyone is able, willing and ready. It’s not a question of one player replacing him. Are we ready? We’ll be fine, but he’s our leading scorer and rebounder. It’s going to have to come from Ray (Robins), Konrad (Wysocki), Eddie (Persia). I could go on and on. It’s everybody."
   Tonight, Princeton will face a Yale team that truly does utilize all its bodies. The Bulldogs went 10-deep against Princeton in the teams’ first meeting, with each player getting at least 13 minutes, with one of the 13-minute players, Justin Simon, leading the team in scoring with eight points.
   "They do all play significant minutes," Thompson said. "And with that, as a coach, you do get a chance to scout and tell the guys about each of their players. Because they play multiple people doesn’t make it more difficult."
   Brown brings the Ivy League’s leading scorer in Earl Hunt, but it was Jason Forte and Alai Nuualiitia who finished with double figures as well who hurt the Tigers just as much. Brown was able to get up and down the court at Jadwin better than most teams have and the result was an 80-point output.
   "Their pace looked faster because our defense was so porous," Thompson said. "There were times when they got open shots within three seconds (of the shot clock starting). If we do a better job at the defensive end, it will control the pace."
   Thompson continues to look for improved offensive execution at the other end of the court. Without Gloger, the Tigers must rely a little more on bench players such as Wysocki and Scott Greenman, who had a career-high 11 points against Dartmouth last Friday.
   "This past weekend, we were a little better," Thompson said. "We have to count the number of open looks we get and work for more of them."
   That patience should help the Tigers double its effectiveness. Good offense will help the defense, and it should help the Tigers combat what’s expected to be two sellout crowds.
   "Going with Penn and Princeton on the road, every crowd is big," Thompson said. "Most of the time we go on the road, it’s near capacity. It’s no different this weekend."
   With big crowds, big expectations and the biggest weekend yet, it’s no different for Princeton in a lot of respects.