Tigers at home try, try again

While the Tigers performed well in Tuesday evening’s loss to Penn (8-14 overall, 3-2 Ivy League), they will be looking for a pair of wins this weekend to put them above .500 in the league. The Tigers face the Bulldogs tonight and Brown tomorrow. Both games will be at Jadwin Gymnasium at 7:30 and are the last two home games for Princeton (5-15, 2-3) until early March.

In a contest typical of the Princeton-Penn rivalry, the Tigers and the Quakers battled down to the wire, with Princeton ultimately falling 70-65. Despite the loss, the Tigers had a solid shooting night, managing 50 percent of its shots from the field. Standout sophomore center Zach Finley led Princeton with 15 points, and sophomore guard Lincoln Gunn netted 12. The sophomore duo has consistently led the Tigers this season, as Finley has amassed a team-high 100 rebounds, and Gunn ranks first in points per game with 10.6.

Last season, Princeton dropped its four contests against Yale and Brown.

In the second-to-last game of the season, the Tigers fell to Yale 51-50 in what was arguably the most exciting game of their season. Sophomore guard Marcus Schroeder led the Tiger effort in that game, scoring a career-high 17 points to go with six rebounds and three assists. The game came down to the final ticks, and though Princeton can expect another close matchup with the Bulldogs this year, the Tigers will be looking for a win this time around.

Yale (9-11, 3-3) heated up last year in mid-February, so the Tigers will look to prevent another hot streak. Yale soundly defeated Dartmouth earlier this week, 97-58, and will be looking to extend its win streak to three games. Following their game against the Big Green, the Bulldogs will have confidence in their unselfish, balanced attack. Thirteen players scored for Yale, and the team shot an impressive 63.8 percent from the field.

The Bulldogs’ senior captain, Eric Flato, leads his team with 12.5 points and 2.8 assists per game and netted 12 points in his last performance. Ross Morin has recently proved to be an offensive threat, averaging 14 points per game since league play began. Morin is also a talented defender, with 104 rebounds this season. The Tiger defenders will also have to prevent a repeat performance by Matt Kyle, who had a hot hand against Dartmouth. Kyle converted nine of 10 shots from the field in that game.

Brown will also enter Saturday night’s game with a confident stride after cruising to a resounding 71-51 win over Harvard in its last contest, improving to 12-8 overall and 4-2 in the Ivy League. Mark McAndrew scored 14 points for the Bears, while Adrian Williams netted a career-high 13 points. McAndrew has been the Bears’ top scorer 10 times this season and leads the team with 16.5 points per game and 17.7 in Ivy League play. The Bears, currently on a three-game winning streak, led for the duration of the game after jumping out to a 16-point lead early in the first half. Chris Skrelja also posted an impressive performance for the Bears, totaling seven points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Skrelja ranks first on the team with 122 rebounds and is expected to be a defensive force against the Tigers.

Damon Huffman will be a threat from behind the arc for Brown. In Princeton’s second outing against the Bears last season, Huffman converted five three-pointers, one of which he sunk with one minute, 13 seconds to go, putting the game out of reach for the Tigers. Princeton dropped this contest 64-55 at Jadwin despite outrebounding Brown 25-19 and shooting 58 percent from the field in the second half.

With Tilghman watching, the Tigers will need to bring the same energy and til-the-buzzer attitude they took to the Palestra back home if they want to climb back above .500 this weekend.