"That's too easy!" and "Someone needs to be there to get that rebound!" were frequent offerings from the Jadwin Gym peanut gallery last night during the men's basketball team's season-ending loss to Penn.
It may have been Senior Night, but as Princeton (11-17 overall, 2-12 Ivy League) succumbed to the Ivy League champion Quakers (22-8, 13-1) in a sloppy, 64-48 loss, the crowd had reason to feel that their Tigers still had a lot to learn.
Time and again, Penn abused the porous Princeton defense with high-percentage shots. The Quakers made it look easy all night long — whether it was star guard Ibrahim Jaaber racing down the court for an easy transition layup or forward Mark Zoller punishing what little inside presence the Tigers had for easy hook shots.
"We lost to a better team — they're the best team in the league; they've got the best two players in the league," head coach Joe Scott '87 said. "Those two seniors [Jaaber and Zoller] are good players; they've had great careers. That's why they're the best team — they've got those two guys."
The game remained competitive for much of the first half. Junior forward Noah Savage nailed a three pointer after some good ball movement to pull Princeton to within one point, at 8-7, seven minutes into the game. After a good defensive series, freshman center Zach Finley got good position inside but couldn't finish the play — one of the evening's prominent themes.
Jaaber followed with a layup in transition. After a missed three-point attempt by Savage, Jaaber got the ball to Zoller for another transition layup to push the lead back up to five.
Savage again did his best to keep the game close, nailing a three from the wing, but a pair of subsequent turnovers neutralized the gains made as Penn pushed the lead back up to seven with more high-percentage looks.
Freshman guard Lincoln Gunn sparked a little run with a three-pointer of his own with seven minutes, 49 seconds remaining in the half to make the score 17-13 in favor of Penn. After a would-be Penn transition layup was stuffed by freshman center Pawel Buczak, sophomore forward Michael Strittmatter drove into the lane, pump-faked and drained a teardrop to pull the Tigers back within two.
And, once again, Jaaber answered. After Strittmatter's make, Jaaber immediately came back down the floor and pump-faked his way to a lay in. A steal followed, then a Jaaber jam and just like that the Quakers led 21-15.
That was as close as Princeton would get for the remainder of the game. Penn capitalized on a few costly Tiger turnovers and headed into the locker room up, 28-17.
Princeton opened the second half on a high note when Gunn drained a three-pointer, but it quickly went downhill from there. Zoller assaulted the Tiger defense with a bevy of layups and bank shots. His conversion of an and-one opportunity with 16:56 to go in the game put Penn up by 15, and the game was all but over for the Tigers at that point, as the lead for the Quakers hovered around 20 points for the remainder of the evening.
Penn shot a staggering 53 percent for the night because of the volume of high-percentage shots. Princeton, meanwhile, couldn't overcome a 32 percent shooting effort in the first half, crippled by a number of missed pointblank layups and other high-percentage shots.
"We haven't shot the ball well — we've shot 38 percent over 12 league games," Scott said. "It's hard to win games shooting 38 percent."
One of the lone bright spots for the Tigers was the play of Finley, who worked himself into a decent rhythm after a slow first half. On the strength of eight points after halftime, Finley finished with 12 points on six-of-12 shooting. His freshman classmate, guard Marcus Schroeder, dished out a season-high seven assists.
For a trio of seniors — forward Luke Owings, forward Justin Conway and guard Edwin Buffmire — last night brought more than the final game of the season, as they played their final games in the orange and black uniform.
"I've been blessed to have this opportunity," outgoing captain Conway said. "I wouldn't change it for the world."
Though the loss was a bitter way to go out, it will not diminish an experience that will remain with the three standouts forever.
"For the rest of our lives," Owings said, "we'll be proud to say that we played Princeton basketball."
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