Princeton dogged by road woes

Head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 explained this streak by pointing to the final minutes of the game.

“I think our only disappointing effort on the road in the league was Dartmouth,” Johnson said. “[For example], at Pennsylvania, we had the ball with nine seconds to go. I felt like the effort and the focus have been there, but when it comes down to it, we just haven’t made the one or two plays that we need to make on the road, and those have been decisive.”

Coming up short at key moments has haunted Princeton. Against Penn (10-16, 5-4), the Tigers narrowed the deficit to one point before senior forward and co-captain Noah Savage missed an open three that would have given Princeton the lead. Penn ultimately prevailed, 70-65.

Princeton will try to find its first road wins this weekend as it travels to Brown (15-9, 7-3) and Yale (10-14, 4-6). Currently, Brown stands at second in the league behind Cornell. The Bulldogs hold steady at fifth, while the Tigers are seventh.

Sophomore center Zach Finley is still Princeton’s leading scorer, with an average of 10.4 points per game. Three other players, however — sophomore guard Lincoln Gunn, senior forward and co-captain Kyle Koncz and Savage — also average more than nine points per game.

Koncz sustained hip and abdomen injuries in last weekend’s matchup against Harvard, and his status for this weekend is unclear. He ranks second on the team in scoring and is tied with Finley for top rebounding average. He also leads the team in average playing time, number of three-pointers made and free-throw percentage.

“Kyle is day to day,” Johnson said. “We had a little bit of light stuff yesterday and today. He was able to kind of get involved and do a little bit of stuff. It’s a game-time decision. We’re prepared to go forward without him, and if he can go then obviously that would be a great boost for us.”

With or without Koncz, the Tigers are hoping to reverse their fortunes against the Bulldogs and the Bears, as both teams defeated Princeton in Jadwin earlier this season. Against Yale, Princeton suffered a 67-56 loss. Against Brown, the Tigers fought a tight battle that ended in a 65-63 overtime loss.

“I though that we played well as a team [against Brown],” Johnson said. “I just remember the huge — incredibly huge — disappointment we had from the night before against Yale, and yet we had one of our best team efforts.”

This weekend, Johnson hopes that a similar effort will produce a different result.

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“Our response to the challenge of beating Brown was tremendous,” Johnson said. “Our energy, our focus was there. I think we’re going to need nothing less than to be in the same situation [this weekend]: a couple minutes to go with a chance to win it.”

To top the Bears — who are coached by Craig Robinson ’83 — the Tigers will have to overcome the dominating scoring pair of Mark McAndrew and Damon Huffman, who combine for an average of 31.4 points per game. In the teams’ last matchup at Jadwin, Princeton allowed these two to nearly reach their average and net 30 points. Brown has won its last three home games.

Yale is also on a home winning streak after triumphs over Harvard and Dartmouth. The Tigers will have to look out for Bulldog leading scorers Eric Flato and Ross Morin, who average 12.1 and 10.2 points per game, respectively. Yale also holds a significant 11.9-point edge over Princeton in average points scored per game.

If the Tigers cannot win against either of these teams, it will be their first winless road season since 1928-29, when Princeton went 0-10 away from home.