"Disappointed"
With one word, men's basketball head coach John Thompson '88 summed up the mood of coaches, players and fans alike in the wake of Penn's thrashing of Princeton (11-7 overall, 4-1 Ivy League) at Jadwin Gym on Tuesday night in front of a raucous crowd of tournament-hungry fans.
It is similarly clear to all that there is one, and only one, cure to the Tigers' discontent: back-to-back road wins in New York this weekend.
Friday night, Princeton travels to Ithaca to take on first-place Cornell (10-9, 5-1). The last time the Big Red began the league season 5-1 — 1988 — it went on to capture the Ivy crown, the last school not named Princeton or Penn to do so.
The following night, the Tigers face Columbia (6-13, 2-4). Although less daunting than Cornell, thanks to new head coach Joe Jones the Lions are far more dangerous than they were during last season's dreadful 0-14 performance.
Big Red power
Against the Big Red, shutting down the host's explosive offensive will be critical for Princeton. Cornell boasts the league's top two scorers, senior guards Ka'Ron Barnes (20.8 points per game) and Cody Toppert (17.7 ppg).
In fact, the Big Red boasts a league leader in just about every significant statistical category. Barnes leads the way with five assists per game, junior big men Eric Taylor and Gabe Stephenson are first and third in rebounding, respectively, while Barnes and sophomore forward Lenny Collins are first and second in the league in steals.
While every Cornell starter is dangerous, the attack starts with Barnes, the team's lightning-fast point guard. He will likely light up the scoreboard no matter who guards him — Thompson said multiple players will take a turn — so the key to stopping the Big Red is preventing Barnes from making his teammates better.
"He's tough because he's good at everything. He's so quick and he's also got a good jumper you have to respect," junior guard Will Venable, who guarded Barnes extensively in previous matchups, said. "You just have to stay in front of him and make him score himself, make sure he's not getting assists."
The Tigers will be faced with a size disadvantage at every position but center, and may be forced to go to a bigger lineup than normal. If they do, rapidly improving freshman forward Harrison Schaen, who grabbed 12 rebounds in a career-high 27 minutes against Penn, will again be counted on to play a big role.
Princeton also must rediscover its offensive form after lacking sharpness and consistency over the past week. The trend began in the second half of last Friday night's victory over Dartmouth, continued in the Tigers' double-overtime nail-biter against Harvard, and finally hit rock bottom against Penn.
Thompson said that the team has focused on basics in practice in hopes of "getting a little more precision."
"We haven't payed attention to detail on offense — we've abandoned things," Venable said. "We need to cut hard, run through every single option, and make the defense work for 30 seconds every time."
Taming the Lions
Unlike Cornell, Columbia lacks a single dominating player. The Lions make up for it with depth, however, as eleven players see double-digit minutes every night. Forwards Matt Preston and Dragutin Kravic lead the way, scoring 14.1 and 11.1 points per game, respectively.
Last weekend, the Lions fell to Yale and Brown on the road, but gave both a good fight, losing by single digits after leading with under 10 minutes to play in the second half.
Princeton's showing this weekend could put them back in first place and will go a long way towards determining whether the loss to Penn was merely an unfortunate hiccup in the Tigers' march towards an Ivy League title or the first signs of a sinking ship. Princeton still controls its own destiny but cannot afford another slip-up with a potential conference title-deciding road game at Penn looming in March. With so much on the line, Princeton must forget the past once the bus hits the road to New York.
"We can't have too many high highs or too many low lows," Thompson said. "We just have to bounce back and play."
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