Princeton men's basketball has had a rough start on the season thus far —winning just one of its first six games.
Tomorrow night at 7:30, the Tigers will return home to Jadwin Gym to take on last year's Northeast Conference Champion and NCAA tournament qualifier, Monmouth, and attempt to pick up their second win on the season before facing No. 5 Kansas Wednesday.
Tomorrow's meeting between Princeton and Monmouth marks the eighth time the two squads will play each other, with Princeton holding the series advantage, 5-2.
The last meeting between the two teams was Nov. 25 of last year in which the Hawks outpowered the Tigers, 70-59.
By the numbers, it appears as though Monmouth should win this season as well.
The Hawks are 4-2 this season with wins coming against Rider, Akron, Wagner and, most impressively, against Vanderbilt.
Although the Commodores have not recently been an SEC powerhouse, they have a 6-2 record. By beating Vandy by 14 points, the Hawks have shown that they can play.
Princeton is just 1-5 as of now.
Princeton and Cornell are the only teams with just one win in this year's unusually strong Ivy League, but the Tigers have had some tough competition.
Princeton played both No. 2 Maryland and George Washington close, losing by an average of only 5.5 points.
The only common ground between Princeton and Monmouth so far in the season is Rider, a team which both beat. The Tigers easily handled the Broncs, 69-57. Against the same team, Monmouth was only able to squeeze out a 50-45 victory in a game that came down to the wire.
One of the questions for tomorrow's game is how many three pointers the Tigers will attempt.
Princeton has sported different looks in its last three halves of play. In the second half against Maryland last Sunday, Princeton put up just four three-point attempts, hitting none of them.
Against George Washington on Monday, though, the Tigers took 38 three-pointers (a BB&T record and just one short of Princeton's all-time high), hitting just 10.
If Princeton takes as many deep shots as it did against George Washington, the team is, of course, going to have to be on.
The team is a fair 34.5 percent from behind the arc this season, but the game Princeton won was the one in which it shot the best from downtown.
Against Rider, the Tigers shot 46.7 percent from the three-point line, hitting 7 of 15 shots.
In Monday's close loss to the Colonials, Princeton's 10-of-38 mark from downtown totaled out to a shooting percentage of 26.3 percent. If the Tigers had shot their season average of 34.5 percent from behind the arc in that game, Princeton would have made another three three-pointers, adding on nine more points. If Princeton shot 46.7 percent, the Tigers could have added on about eight more treys and made the game a blowout.
Granted, such number manipulation can be misleading, but it shows just how much poor shooting can hurt a team.
Another aspect of the game Princeton will be looking at is who is hot and who is not — and to get the ball to the hands of those who are hot.
"We have many options to choose from, and we'll usually play the players who are hot," head coach John Thompson said in an interview at the beginning of the season.
Thompson has usually done a fine job at getting those players in there, but in a game should be close, he will want to be extra sure that the five hottest shooters are on the floor.
For Princeton's last shot against Florida International, for instance, the ball found its way into the hands of junior forward Kyle Wente, who had not made a shot on the day. Granted, on the season, he is one of the best three-point shooters on the team, but in the FIU game, he was a little off. His final shot was also a little off, and the Tigers fell to the Cougars.
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