Penn State next on Tiger slate

After a disappointing 21-point loss to Evansville, Princeton (2-6 overall) has had a full week to lick its wounds and rebuild its strength in preparation for Penn State (4-4). The Tigers will tipoff tonight at 7 p.m. at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pa.

The Nittany Lions, members of the Big 10 conference along with Michigan State, Indiana and Wisconsin, are used to tough play against top teams. Penn State is off an intense overtime victory over Seton Hall, a team who defeated Princeton 65-55 earlier in the season. In fact, the Nittany Lions never held a lead against the Pirates until overtime.

"They beat a very good Seton Hall team," head coach Sydney Johnson '97 said. "They should be feeling good about the strides that they've made in the season so far."

Tonight's match-up could be an uphill battle for Princeton. The Lions have not yet lost at home this season, and the Tigers are currently 0-5 on the road. And while Penn State averages 73.5 points per game, Princeton averages only 54.4. All this doesn't bode well for the Tigers, who are battling to break their six-game losing streak.

Against Evansville, Princeton's leading scorer, sophomore center Zach Finley, played for only 19 minutes and scored a measly four points. Senior forward Noah Savage stepped up to lead the team with 14 points. The Tigers never recovered from the Purple Aces' 17-0 run in the beginning of the first half and were held to a meager 33 percent field-goal shooting average.

"We were very disappointed in our effort last time out [against Evansville]," Johnson said. "We turned the ball over a lot more times than we assisted."

Princeton will have to fight for every missed shot against the Nittany Lions. Penn State averages 40.8 rebounds per game, while the Tigers average 27.6. The Lions are particularly fierce when rebounding on the offense. Star forward Geary Claxton, by far the leading scorer on their team with an average of 19.4 points per game, has 21 total offensive rebounds on the season.

"They are a terrific offensive rebounding team," Johnson said. "And [Claxton] is a very good offensive rebounder; he's a good shooter and just a good overall player. He's backed up by some talented, physical wing/big players. It's a very good, very well-balanced team."

In preparation for this match-up, Johnson looked back on the successes and challenges of the game so far.

"Overall, we've had about half of the efforts that we're very proud of, despite the wins and the losses," Johnson said. "Then the other half of the effort ... we knew we could've done better."

The Tigers' key to giving the Lions a run for their money will be simple: Don't give up. Judging by the teams' different reactions to deficits in past games, Penn State boasts the competitive edge. While Princeton never managed to bounce back from the Purple Aces' 17-0 run, the Nittany Lions defeated the Pirates after trailing for an entire 40 minutes.

"What we really want to do is ... play Princeton basketball," Johnson said. "Share the ball, compete defensively, some things that for the most part of the season we've done, we've done well. Hopefully in the waning moments of the game, we're still [in it] and have a chance to win."

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In general, Johnson sees reliability as one of the team's major problems that need to be addressed in the coming games before Ivy play begins in January.

"I think we just want a little bit more consistency in terms of taking caring of the little things and just playing our style of basketball," Johnson said. "If we can do that over the next month or so ... we'll have continued to improve every day. That's what we really want to do, big picture, is just improve every day."