Toppling Ivy titan is tops on to-do list

Spring is the season of new beginnings, and the men’s basketball team (5-12 overall, 2-0 Ivy League) has used the coming of the spring semester to take this cliche to heart. During the fall semester, the Tigers faltered on a 12-game losing streak. Since the end of January exams, Princeton has shifted its momentum with three consecutive wins, including victories against league foes Dartmouth and Harvard.

“We did a lot of hard work over the break,” sophomore center Zach Finley said. “We got together and regrouped and decided it’s a new season and what happened before doesn’t really matter now.”

The Tigers’ turnaround will be tested this weekend when they travel to New York to play at Cornell (12-5, 4-0) on Friday night and Columbia (8-11, 1-3) on Saturday night. Princeton is looking for its first road win this season.

“We have a major challenge in front of us,” head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 said. “We understand that. We hope to play hard and have a chance to win, but it’s very hard to win games on the road.”

The Tigers have centered themselves around the senior-sophomore quartet of co-captain senior forwards Kyle Koncz and Noah Savage, sophomore guard Lincoln Gunn and Finley. Koncz and Savage lead the team with their four years of experience, but Gunn and Finley have stepped up to post big numbers. These four have started every game this season, while sophomore guard Marcus Schroeder and senior guard Kevin Steuerer have been alternating in the fifth spot.

Though Koncz is coming off a career-high 24-point effort against Harvard, Gunn and Finley are battling it out for the top scoring average. Gunn averages 10.5 points per game, while Finley barely trails with 10.4. Finley also leads the team with 5.5 rebounds per game and 20 blocks for the season. Schroeder has made his mark in forcing turnovers, snatching 26 steals so far this season.

The Tigers will have to beat the odds to find a win in Ithaca. Cornell was the preseason pick to win the Ivy League, and it has defeated Princeton in five of their last six meetings. The Big Red is on a six-game winning streak and is fresh from a 21-point massacre of Yale last weekend.

“Cornell? Nobody has beaten them in the league,” Johnson said. “They’ve got very experienced guys not only through transfers but also through some sophomores who have played a lot of minutes.”

The sophomores he’s referring to ? guards Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale ? pose a big threat for the Tigers on the perimeter. Wittman leads the team with an average of 14.9 points per game, and Dale adds 13.2. Princeton should avoid taking Dale to the free-throw line, where he shoots an impressive 95.2 percent. Dale also leads the Ivy League in assists with 5.1 per game. Seven-foot junior center Jeff Foote helps the duo with 5.6 rebounds per game and 14 blocked shots on the season.

At Columbia, the Tigers will face an experienced squad that has had a rough 1-3 start in the Ivy League. Two of those losses were at the hands of Cornell, and the Lions are coming off a five-point loss to Brown.

“Columbia is great at home,” Johnson said. “They rely on their big guys for inside presence, but then they’ve got very good shooting on the perimeter and they play hard.”

The Lions are led by senior forward John Baumann, who has started all 19 games for the Lions and averages a team-high 15.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Senior center Ben Nwachukwu pitches in with an average of 4.5 rebounds. At six feet, seven inches, and 6’8” respectively, Baumann and Nwachukwu are Columbia’s “big guys.”