Schaen, Tigers look for comfort level
By: Bob Nuse
In one weekend, the Princeton University men’s basketball team showed what it is and what it can be.
What the Tigers are right now is a team still finding their way, as evidenced by Saturday night’s 57-49 loss to Cornell.
What the Tigers can be is a team that eventually realizes its potential and pulls out close games, like Friday night’s 68-64 overtime win over Columbia.
For now, Princeton is a team that is 3-11 after opening its Ivy League season with a split at home. But it’s a team that, if it finds itself over the next month, just might get itself heading in the right direction.
"I like all their players," Cornell coach Steve Donahue said after his team had improved to 6-10 with its win on Saturday. "I think they’re good and they have gotten better. They’re the kind of kids that you can build around. This is a business where jobs are difficult for different reasons. My job is tough because we have no tradition to build on. Joe’s (Scott) job is tough because the expectations are so high.
"What I see is a coach who works his tail off. His kids are getting better and they’re executing better. You can see the progress he has made with those kids."
For those looking strictly at wins and losses, that progress is tough to see. The 49 points the Tigers scored on Saturday marked the 11th time this season Princeton has failed to reach 50 points in a game. And even though the defense is allowing just 56 points a game, the offensive struggles have made winning difficult.
"We struggled to score in the first half," Scott said after Saturday’s loss. "We’ve struggled to score all year. That just continues to put pressure on your defense. We just struggle to score and put more and more pressure on the defense. As you struggle to score, the other team feels better about themselves because they’re stopping you. And as you continue to struggle, it’s hard to maintain that defensive focus."
Princeton trailed, 11-9, with just over 13 minutes left in the first half against Cornell. Over the next 10 minutes the Tigers scored just five points and found themselves in a 29-14 hole. The Cornell lead was as much as 20 points, 38-18, early in the second half before the Tigers began to chip away. The closest they would get the rest of the way was six points on a pair of Noah Savage free throws with 17 seconds left.
"We obviously didn’t quit, which is a good thing for us," Scott said. "But we have to do better than not quitting. (Cornell) looked like they were ready. They got drilled by 40 points (against Penn) last night and they were ready to go. We win (on Friday) and now it’s a little different. It was a tale of two different Friday nights leading to a different Saturday night.
"They have some older guys who I know were probably angry with themselves about how they played last night. I think that veteran leadership showed up for them tonight."
Princeton made just five of 23 shots in the first half and shot just a shade over 30 percent for the night. Savage led the scoring with 10 points, while Kyle Koncz had nine and Harrison Schaen added nine off the bench.
"I’m getting the sense all the time that there is more and more understanding of what we’re trying to do," said Scott, whose team is now off for exams and returns to action Jan. 29 at Davidson. "There is no question about that. Now, understanding and then putting that understanding into practice for a full 40 minutes, that’s the next step. But we’re doing that better. We have to be good at executing and showing it when we go out there.
"Kyle Koncz is becoming a player. He holds himself to a high standard. From a coaching standpoint, you’re looking there. And (Edwin) Buffmire is another guy, he holds himself to a higher standard. I see those things coming along. We just have to develop some consistency with that."
Princeton showed some of that consistency against Columbia, shooting better and getting good looks at the basket. Now, the Tigers just need to keep that consistency from night to night.
"If we stay with it we’ll build that mentality of what we need to do," Scott said. "It would be nice if sometime, which doesn’t always happen with a youthful team, but it would be nice to go out there and have five guys play well on the same night. We’re trying to get to the point where we go out on the court and five guys play well.
"In the first half we missed five layups and we missed foul shots. That’s the kind of thing where you are putting pressure on your defense. If you make some of those layups and your foul shots, it is a different game. For the game, we probably missed seven or eight layups. I think we’re executing better and getting those shots. You can tell that by the layups and getting those things."
That consistency may just come with confidence, which the Tigers are still searching for as well.
"A lot of the guys on the team really haven’t played many games before," Schaen said. "Confidence is going to come with experience. As long as we keep doing what we have to do and helping each other out, I think the confidence will be there."
Schaen has played better offensively when given an opportunity. He played 17 minutes off the bench on Saturday after playing nine minutes against Columbia, seeing most of his time at center after spending some time at the forward position.
"I’m very comfortable with the offense now," Schaen said. "I feel knowing both positions really helps me with the offense. I’m more comfortable playing center right now because I’m one of the biggest guys on the team. So I feel I have to make that effort down low and use my quickness to get around other defenders."
Once Schaen and the other Tigers all get comfortable, perhaps that is when the end results begin to look different.