Princeton heads to New York

A week and a half ago, there was no time to rest for the men's basketball team as it opened its season at the BCA Classic. After playing three games in three days, however, Princeton (2-1 overall) earned nine days in practice for tonight's game against the Manhattan Jaspers (2-1) at Draddy Gymnasium in Riverdale, N.Y.

But the Tigers are not about to let the layoff affect their level of play. (Related: Read live blogging of the game tonight at 7 p.m. on our sports blog, Sideline Dispatches.)

"I felt like it doesn't matter that much," senior forward and team captain Justin Conway said. "Every practice, every day, we play hard. We have been trying to get better everyday."

In the BCA Classic, the Orange and Black fell in their opener to Loyola-Chicago but then rebounded to defeat VMI and Alabama A&M. Princeton's two non-conference victories equal the number of non-Ivy wins the Tigers amassed all of last season.

Princeton was led in scoring by junior forward Kyle Koncz's 15 points per game. Koncz also drained half of his three-point attempts en route to being named to the BCA Classic all-tournament squad. As a team, the Tigers are scoring 62 points a contest on 46 percent field goal percentage, including 39 percent from beyond the arc.

Defensively, Princeton is only giving up 58.3 points per game, and is holding its opponents to 32 percent three-point shooting.

"Over the course of the three games, our defense got better, but we always have to keep continuing to practice," Conway said.

Standing out for the Tigers has been freshman guard Marcus Schroeder, who has played 118 of the team's 120 total minutes this season. Schroeder is averaging five assists per game with a 2.5 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Conway leads the team in rebounding with five boards per game, including seven against Alabama A&M, while scoring a team-second 11.3 points per game on 63 percent from the field.

Sophomore forward Michael Strittmatter is third on the team in scoring at 9.3 ppg, firing 11-17 from the field and 4-5 from downtown in Princeton's first three games.

Manhattan is also coming off consecutive wins, the second in overtime against a favorite Hofstra team, then ranked no. 3 in the collegeinsider.com mid-major poll. A jumper from guard Devon Austin with 1.2 seconds remaining in the extra period lifted the Jaspers to the upset.

Manhattan is led season by reigning MAAC player of the week center Arturo Dubois, who paces the Jaspers with 19.0 ppg and 6.7 rebounds per game, including a 23-point performance against Hofstra.

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Austin is Manhattan's second-leading scorer, netting 12.3 ppg along with six rpg. As a team, the Jaspers are scoring 65.7 ppg while giving up 64.3 ppg. Manhattan is a poor outside shooting team, averaging only 24 percent from beyond the arc.

While Manhattan was able to upset Hofstra, its lone loss of the season came to the lowly New Jersey Institute of Technology, a team in its first season in Division-I.

But Princeton is preparing as they would for any opponent.

"We've been concentrating on what they're trying to do," Conway said. "Our coaches have scouted them well. It'll be up to us to stop them."

Overall, the Tigers' captain was optimistic about the team's chances to win this, the 12th of its last 16 contests, dating back to last season.

"I don't like to make predictions," Conway said. "In any game we play, if we play well, if we have the defensive intensity that we need to have, and run our offense the way we need to, we'll always have a chance to win."