Freshman, PU hoops facing winless Iona next
By: Justin Feil
Lincoln Gunn, Marcus Schroeder and Zach Finley are still freshmen, but at some point this season they won’t be treated as such anymore.
"I don’t think you get to that point until you hit the league," said Princeton University men’s basketball coach Joe Scott. "It’s not until you run into people that know you well. It’s still a learning process.
"You don’t find out for certain how they are until you play some league games, especially road league games on back-to-back nights. The next two weeks will be extremely important. The team and these guys will find out what the league is about."
Finley has shown his potential. He was able to fill in the starting lineup when Justin Conway missed a pair of games with an injury. He has continued to provide minutes off the bench since Conway’s return.
Schroeder has been solid at point guard all season. He averages 38.4 minutes per game, more than any other Princeton player, even though he is in his first collegiate season. He has more assists and steals than any other Tiger, and in Princeton’s 54-48 loss at South Carolina, he recorded a new career high with six rebounds.
It was Gunn, though, who had a breakout game against the Gamecocks on Dec. 20. The freshman guard hit five three-pointers for a new career-high 15 points. He also tallied a career-high four assists even as the Tigers slipped to 7-4 this season.
"He just has to continue to do everything hard," Scott said. "It’s not that he doesn’t play hard, but he has to have that overall hardness to his game. Every cut, every drive, he has to do it to score, to improve his game. He’s one of those guys that can shoot, score, pass. He has to get better at all that. It’s part of being a freshman. Most important is learning why he’s out here."
Gunn can bring the Tigers another shooter, and he is a solid defender. Princeton is hoping he can continue to build on his showing at South Carolina when it comes off a nine-day layoff to play at Iona 2 p.m. Saturday. The Tigers time off hasn’t been spent preparing specifically for Iona, but continuing to work on their own weaknesses.
"We haven’t started on Iona," Scott said. "We’ve been working on ourselves. They’re going to be fast. We’re going to have to stop their dribble penetration. They have some guys back now."
The Gaels are 0-10 after losing, 67-51, to New Hampshire last Friday. Dexter Gray made his season debut 10 days ago and scored 20 points and had eight rebounds in the loss to New Hampshire.
Princeton, too, will be coming off a loss. It was a loss in which Princeton played well at South Carolina for the majority of the game. But the Gamecocks took control with a 10-0 run over the final 1:57 of the first half. Princeton sliced a 13-point deficit to three points in the game’s final two minutes but could not come all the way back.
"We played well for 39 minutes, for 38 and a half," Scott said. "What was learned was if we want to win, we have to be good at what we do all the time. In that minute and a half, we didn’t control the game. We didn’t make South Carolina do what we wanted them to do.
"We found out to win a game like that, you have to be great at those things all the time. If we do that, we can win. The second half showed that. The key is to not be down by 13. If we can be good on both ends, and keep getting better at what we do, then we’ll see our best."
Gunn figures to continue to be a key player for the Tigers. He is gaining experience and confidence with each game. He shot the ball well against South Carolina, and that’s something he can build on as Princeton starts to look to the start of the Ivy season.
"He’s much more than a shooter," Scott said. "He’s a player. He can score driving, he can score off the dribble. He is able to score in the low post. He has to continue to do those things. He has tried to expand himself. If he can do that, you’re going to see a guy who can continue to get better."
And as Gunn improves, so should the Tiger men’s basketball team. Improvement is what they are after as they look to prepare for the Ivy League season, and the first go-around at it for freshmen like Gunn. After Saturday’s game at Iona, Princeton plays just one more tune-up, against Rice on Jan. 6, before opening the Ivy League season at Columbia. By then, Princeton hopes its freshmen are prepared enough for the league race.

