Men's hoops returns to Jadwin looking to regain momentum

Jadwin Gym — the men's basketball team vaguely remembers the place.

It certainly has been a while. The Tigers have not set foot on their home court and suited up in white since February 3. After that last home game, Princeton went on a five game road trip in the span of nine days, and now returns to Jadwin Gym with a losing Ivy League road record of 2-3.

By losing three league games on the road, the Tigers (11-10 overall, 6-3 Ivy League) find themselves in a surprising three-way tie for first in the league with Penn and Yale — with three other teams still in contention for the title.

One of those hopeful teams is Harvard, whom the Tigers face tonight at Jadwin Gym. The Crimson (12-10, 5-5) are two games back, however, and do not have the numbers in their corner.

Ever since suffering a 69-67 buzzer-beater loss to Princeton at home at the hands of sophomore forward Kyle Wente, Harvard has not managed to win a game. The Crimson travel to Princeton riding a three game losing streak and have a history of struggling on the road.

All eight Ivy teams have losing road records. In the league this season, the home teams are 27-11. The Crimson have been a comfortable 8-3 at home, but 4-7 away from Lavietes Pavilion. Dartmouth (7-16, 2-8), whom the Tigers will face Saturday evening, has been a horrible 2-10 on the road.

For the Tigers, a pair of home games could not have come at a better time. Princeton enjoys a 6-1 home record and shoot 50 percent from the field at Jadwin. After being swept on the road at Columbia and Cornell last weekend, the Tigers desperately need to halt the skid.

"I think that whether it's a good weekend or a bad weekend, and whether you win or lose, you have to refocus on what's ahead," head coach John Thompson '88 said. "You have to learn from your mistakes and hopefully grow a little bit. That last weekend, as terrible as it was, is over and we have to forget about it and make the needed adjustments and just start focusing on Harvard and Dartmouth."

There are several changes that the Tigers will have to make in order to be successful this weekend.

The first is on offense. Princeton shot an atrocious 16-for-43 at Cornell and 13-for-48 at Columbia. The Tigers will have to work harder to get open and get off better shots. This goes hand-in-hand with another deficiency of the past weekend — hustle.

"It's a matter of effort," senior guard C.J. Chapman said. "A lot of guys aren't playing hard and coach made that a point, and I made it a point. I think everyone made it a point. Everyone's been noticing that everyone's not playing hard. If we play hard, even the mistakes we do make, we should be able to get out with the win."

The Tigers will also have to find a way to contain Harvard's league-leading offense tonight. The Crimson, who have taken more three-pointers than Princeton this season and lead the Ivy League in three-point percentage at 36.8, were permitted way too many open looks in the two teams' last meeting. The Tigers must contain Harvard forward Dan Clemente, who is second in the conference in scoring at 18.3 points per game, and Elliott Prasse-Freeman, the league leader in both assists (6.27 per game) and three-point percentage (.432).

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Only the Tigers' torrid shooting from the field — 56.6 percent, a season high — kept them close against Harvard, which shot 25- for- 49.

"There's no margin for error with this group," Thompson said. "If any one person, from myself on down, is a little off and isn't quite right, we're gonna lose."

Princeton hopes that the friendly confines of Jadwin Gym will turn its fortunes around.