Tigers take No. 7 Sooners to the wire
By: Justin Feil
The Princeton University men’s basketball takes a little something away from each loss as well as each win. All the Tigers got out of a 58-55 loss to Oklahoma on Saturday was the continuation of a disturbing trend of losing close games to good opponents.
Princeton had a chance to send the game into overtime Saturday, but Ed Persia couldn’t add to his team-high 19 points as his three-pointer bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
Princeton lost for the first time this season, 57-55, to UC-Irvine on Dec. 5 after the Anteaters scored on a last-second layup and Judson Wallace couldn’t get off a last-second shot. Princeton had a chance to send a two-point loss to Rutgers Dec. 13 into overtime but Andre Logan’s jumper was short. Scott Greenman misfired on a deep three-pointer that would have sent a loss to Lafayette Dec. 22 into overtime. The Tigers also lost to Duke by 18 points, but were trailing at halftime by just four.
"We’re definitely tired of moral victories," Logan said after losing to the No. 7 Sooners. "Everyone thinks we’re just a bunch of smart guys that keep it close. Basketball is first with us. We play to win, and we were disappointed with the loss. Hopefully in the future we can pull out those close games."
There’s not much time to wallow as the Tigers host Monmouth 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Jadwin Gym. Princeton, which will look to improve on its 5-5 overall record, beat the Hawks last year, 60-57, on an 80-foot shot at the buzzer by Persia. Monmouth has won five of its last six games.
"In many regards, and this sounds strange, but playing Monmouth is much harder than playing Oklahoma," said PU head coach John Thompson. "With Monmouth, there are no surprises. They know exactly what we do. They run a similar offense. It always a tight, contested game. Their matchup zone they’ve been playing for years is tough to score on. It’s a much more difficult game than the game we jut played."
Princeton did plenty well on Saturday, but not enough to halt Oklahoma’s season-starting 10-game win streak. The Tigers had more rebounds than the Sooners and shot better, but Oklahoma, which did not have a field goal for the final eight minutes, 23 seconds, had the better of the free throw percentage. Princeton’s offense controlled the tempo and at halftime, the Tigers had a 27-26 lead with Persia leading the way with 15 points. Princeton scored on numerous backdoor layups, and shot just 10 three-pointers the entire game and made four. The Tigers’ leading scorer, Wallace, had just two points.
"Our offense, with the exception of the Lafayette game, has been all right," Thompson said. "Clearly it looked better than against Lafayette. Our offense looked pretty good against Loyola as well. With the exception of a few possessions, we did well. We made a concerted effort to cut hard. That’s a big part of our offense and it opened up a few things."
"One thing that Coach has stressed is for us to stop settling for threes," Logan added. "We’ve been settling way too much. We wanted to get more offense and them pressuring us helped (open the backdoors).
"We have a team with a bunch of talented players. It’s going to be someone different every night. Ed saw the opportunity was there (Saturday) and he did a great job of scoring at key times."
Persia’s last-second attempt was on-line, but just came up short. The Tigers had come back from a 13-point deficit with under eight minutes before a 10-0 run, capped by a layup by Logan with 2:33 to go pulled them within three. After two free throws by Jason Detrick, Princeton’s last points came on a layup off an inbounds play from Scott Greenman, who tied a career high with 14 points.
"We know, it wasn’t a necessarily a lesson learned in that game," Thompson said. "The lesson was let’s not get down 13. But this team can come back. This team can play different ways."
Princeton takes away some confidence in that its offense has improved in the past two games a win over Loyola and the loss against Oklahoma after one of its worst offensive showings in producing 44 points against Lafayette. The improvement comes from a recommitment and new focus on the offense.
"We were just confident in our offense and in our ability to score," Logan said. "If we stick with it, there aren’t many teams that can guard it. It’s one of those things. Our offense is all or nothing. Coach has done a good job of making us buy into it. We wanted to execute it as well as possible and we’ve stressed that in practice."
One thing that has helped the offense is the continued emergence of Logan. Logan is growing more comfortable by the week, though progress back from what amounts to two seasons off has been slow, he admits. The junior forward made his second straight start Saturday in place of Konrad Wysocki, who has a viral infection.
"It feels great to start again," said Logan, who suffered a knee injury that ended his sophomore season then wasn’t fully recovered last year before losing another season due to the knee. "I always felt that the beginning of games I enjoy playing and giving the team a lift. It’s nice to be out there right away and nice to not have that gap where you get cold after warming up."
Logan had six points, a team-high six rebounds, two assists and the Tigers’ only block. He also played a season-high 34 minutes.
"Physically, I don’t think I’m there yet," he said. "I haven’t had the time to work on the skills as much. It hasn’t progressed like the way I have in the past. I spent so much time rehabbing my knee. I’m taking it day by day. The last couple years I’ve had some bad luck, so I just want to get through the season and hopefully that will help me out in the future.
"I feel fine. Nothing’s hurting. I just try to do whatever the team needs me to do."
At the moment, that task appears to be making the plays down the stretch. Princeton has had a chance in the final minute in four of its five losses. After missing much of two seasons, Logan is just happy for the chance to contribute on the court. He brings a veteran presence with experience in plenty of close games. And the Tigers are hoping now he can bring a few more wins in close situations as it looks to improve.
"This team can be almost perfect," Thompson said. "It’s a stretch here and possession there where we didn’t do it how we need to do it. Teams in past have not been able to do it every time. This team can be perfect on offense.
"As coach you look at our execution down last five or six minutes, and we could or should have done something differently. I don’t think that we’re not executing at the end. But a lot of times don’t want to be in that situation and we don’t have to be."