Tigers host Dartmouth, Harvard
By: Justin Feil
The Princeton University men’s basketball team comes off a weekend sweep that matched the four best Ivy League teams over the past three years and turns to two teams that have struggled this season.
The Tigers host Dartmouth 7:30 p.m. tonight and Harvard 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Jadwin Gym, and look to stay unbeaten and keep pace with Cornell, which faces Brown and Yale on the road. Princeton is 2-0 in the league after beating both Brown and Yale last weekend. Cornell is 4-0, but has played the three weakest teams in the league. Now it’s Princeton’s turn with 1-3 Dartmouth and 1-3 Harvard.
"Both teams this weekend, as they have done through the years, can go on offensive runs," said PU head coach John Thompson, whose team is 9-6 overall. "Dartmouth has a collection of outside shooters that we must stay attentive to. Harvard had pretty big leads against Cornell and Columbia and those teams just chipped away and came back.
"We have to have a lot of defensive intensity. We have to have a lot of attentiveness."
Princeton has had plenty of success in recent seasons with both Dartmouth and Harvard, though to varying degrees. The Tigers have had their way with the Big Green, who are 3-15 overall this year. Princeton has won the last five games between the two, and has a 15-1 record against the Big Green in the last eight years. The average margin of victory in Princeton’s 15 wins has been 14 points.
The Tigers have beaten Harvard, which is 2-15 overall this year, the last eight times the teams have met, but it hasn’t been easy. Princeton has won by two points or less in one of the teams’ meetings in each of the past three years.
Princeton will be aiming for a second straight weekend sweep with current Ivy League cellar dweller Penn on the horizon. The Tigers host the two-time defending champions Tuesday.
The Tigers will be without Konrad Wysocki for the rest of the season after the senior forward abruptly quit the team Monday. Wysocki, the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in his freshman campaign, did not appear in either of last weekend’s games, but his loss at least weakens the Tigers depth in practice. Also, Spencer Gloger, whose season ended last year after being declared academically ineligible, re-enrolled for the second semester at Princeton University, will not play this season.
Princeton showed plenty of firepower without the two in topping Yale and Brown, but it isn’t the offense that Thompson believes helped Princeton to the sweep.
"It was our defense, the same thing we need to have carry over now," he said. "Our defense last weekend was terrific across the board. When I think of who played well, Will (Venable) comes to mind, but it really was our overall team defense in terms of support and our help rotation that was so good."
Led by Venable, the Ivy League Player of the Week, the Tigers limited Brown’s Patrick Powers to one point on 0-for-3 shooting on Friday and then held Yale’s Edwin Draughan to nine points on 3-for-12 shooting. Both were averaging in double digits.
"It was definitely part of our emphasis, particularly last week," Thompson said. "Limiting their threes was an approach we have to have again. Dartmouth and Harvard get them differently than Yale and Brown. We have to continue that emphasis in a slightly different way."
What should help the Tigers is playing at home, where the visitors should be even less comfortable than usual against the tight defense. It should also help Princeton keep its focus against two teams that on paper come in as big underdogs. A win for Harvard or Dartmouth would make their season at this point. Wins for everyone in the league are vital, however, Thompson points out.
"There’s no doubt that you go through the first period of the year to get to now," Thompson said. "Everything is heightened. There’s more of a sense of urgency. It’s more important now.
"With our league, at this time of year, every game is a season maker or breaker," he added. "Unlike every other league, our tournament started last weekend. Each game gets that much more important. I’m sure that Harvard and Dartmouth are thinking the same way as we are. Every game is important."
The freshmen got a quick introduction to that intensity and urgency on the road last weekend, while the Princeton veterans like Venable, who had a season-high 18 points in the win over Brown, and Andre Logan, who had 16 points in the win over Yale, seemed to raise their level of play another notch. Down one veteran with Wysocki’s departure, the Tigers have to stay together to continue their balanced approach that proved successful last weekend.
"We’re at the point of the year where everyone is going to have to step up," Thompson said. "We had some older guys lead the way, like Andre had a good weekend. But the key was everyone did. We have to keep that going."