Tigers retake Ivy hoop lead
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The fortunes of the Princeton University men’s basketball team have changed quite a bit since Dan Mavraides arrived on campus.
”We talk about that a lot,” said Mavraides, one of three PU seniors honored Saturday night prior to the Tigers’ 66-61 win over Columbia. “Freshman year was the toughest year of my life playing basketball. I’m sure everyone here feels the exact same way.”
But since then, the Tigers have made great strides. That first year, which was also Sydney Johnson’s first year as head coach, the Tigers went 6-23 and finished sixth in the Ivy League. A year later they went 13-14 overall and 6-8 in the Ivy League, then last year finished 22-9 and 11-3 in the Ivy League.
With Saturday’s win over Columbia, the Tigers are now 22-5 overall and 10-1 in the Ivy League. If they can win their final three games — all on the road — they will be Ivy champions and back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2004.
”It wasn’t immediate,” Mavraides said of the Tigers’ progress. “My sophomore year there wasn’t an Ivy League championship. But it has been gradual and every year we have gotten better and taken big steps. And you could see that progression.
”And now here we are 11 games into the Ivy League in first place. That is all you want coming in as a freshman to a college program — to have a chance to win a league championship and make it to the tournament. We have that laid out in front of us. It is three tough games still but you couldn’t ask for any other situation.”
Princeton’s win on Saturday, coupled with Harvard’s loss to Yale, left the Tigers alone in first place. Harvard is 10-2 and trails the Tigers by one game in the loss column. Princeton closes out the regular season with games at Dartmouth, Harvard and Penn. Harvard has home games this weekend with Penn and Princeton.
The win on Saturday didn’t come easy for the Tigers. They trailed by six late in the second half and Mavraides had not made a shot all night. But he made four shots in the final six minutes as Princeton completed its home season a perfect 12-0 at Jadwin Gym.
”There was a moment when I looked at the shot clock and we were down six and the game had been miserable for me personally,” said Mavraides, who finished with 14 points. “I thought why am I nervous? Why am I scared? We have been in this spot before. I play in this gym all the time. I’ve made a million shots in this gym. I said to myself, just play in the moment. The last two threes that I shot I had 100 percent confidence in them and they felt great the whole way up. Down the stretch the crowd was a big help.”
The game was likely the last at Jadwin this season for the three PU seniors — Mavraides, Kareem Maddox and Bobby Foley. Maddox finished with a team-high 20 points, while Foley got a start and played four minutes in the win.
”Bobby and Dan and Kareem have given a whole ton,” Johnson said. “It is the most rewarding part of the job to see these young men grow to be men. All three of them have given us great leadership in ways that people don’t always see.
”Bobby is one of the funniest guys on the team. The three of them in terms of how they dealt with the loss of (Christian Regulski) and how they led our team in terms of welcoming him to our program. It’s hard for me to just focus on this game because they have given so much of themselves and I hope our great, loyal fans appreciate what they have done.”
Maddox has shined as a senior and has to be in the running for Ivy Player of the Year honors for what he has done on the court. He finished with eight rebounds to go with his 20 points.
”It was tough,” he said of playing his final home game. “It kind of snuck up on us. There is a little you have to get through in the beginning when you realize you are not going to be playing in front of your friends and all the fans who have been out here for four years. At the end of the day it is a game and we had to come out and win it to achieve our goals.”
Foley has played sparingly in his career, but also got caught up in the emotion of his final game at Jadwin.
”I think the key is we won the game,” Foley said. “I wanted to come out and hopefully contribute to us winning. I wouldn’t trade the win for anything. It was emotional that we’ll probably never have a game in Jadwin again. But we’re not done playing. We have these three games coming up and hopefully more after that.”