With only a week left in Ivy play, the league title is still up for grabs. The Tigers currently sit second in the conference, half a game ahead of Yale and Dartmouth and trailing Ivy leader Cornell by one-and-a-half games, all with a game in hand. With a win against Penn (9-16, 5-6) on Friday, Cornell (19-9, 9-3) guarantees itself at least a share of the Ivy title. A win against Princeton would give the Big Red the championship outright and an invitation to the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.
Princeton, meanwhile, will need to win all three of its games to force a one-game playoff for the NCAA berth if Cornell beats Penn on Friday. But three Tiger victories coupled with a Quaker win at Cornell would send Princeton to the Big Dance.
“All we have to do is win our three games, and we’ll be Ivy champs,” sophomore guard Dan Mavraides said. “It’s in our grasp, and it’s only three games away. Pressure-wise, it’s just another game, and in that sense it’s no more pressure than there usually is.”
The first of the road games will come on Friday when head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 leads his squad up to New York to take on Columbia (11-15, 6-6) for the second time this season. History stands on the Tigers’ side, as Princeton is 26-8 all-time in Levien Gymnasium. The Lions are returning home after a four-game road trip, and they will look to end their three-game skid. If this game proves to be anything similar to the teams’ last meeting, that streak may live to see another day.
The Tigers were far from gracious hosts when the Lions visited Jadwin Gymnasium earlier this season.
Behind junior center Zach Finley’s 11-point, eight-rebound performance and baskets from 11 of the 13 Tigers, Princeton tore Columbia to shreds en route to a 63-35 blowout. The Tigers outrebounded their opponent by 15 and held the Lions to 24 percent shooting on the night.
Should Princeton defeat Columbia on Friday, the only thing standing between the Tigers and an Ivy title and its accompanying NCAA tournament bid would be their next opponent, Cornell. The league-leading Big Red has an unblemished 11-0 record at home and will finish its season in the comforts of Newman Arena. The matchup with Princeton will conclude the Big Red’s regular-season schedule.
Defense will once again be the deciding factor in this contest. When the Big Red visited Jadwin on Feb. 6, it was held to a season low of 41 points of offense on 32 percent shooting. The aggressive Princeton defense forced 14 turnovers and kept the Big Red from getting into an offensive rhythm.
“I think the key will be to play the way we’ve been playing and get after it defensively,” Mavraides said. “Our offense will come no matter what. We should be fine if we can hold teams to less points than they’re used to.”
Averaging more than 74 points a game this season, Cornell’s offensive threat is anchored by the three-headed monster of forward Ryan Wittman, guard Louis Dale and center Jeff Foote. The three combine for 60 percent of Cornell’s offensive production and pull down 15 boards a night. Foote has racked up 61 blocks this season.
Princeton’s success from its last meeting with Cornell can be attributed to its taming of this Cerberus. The three combined for only 27 points in the 61-41 loss.
“We’re not changing our game plan. What we did seemed to work. We know they missed a lot of shots when they came down here, a lot of shots that they’re probably going to make up in their place. But we’re not going to change how we play,” Mavraides said.
Princeton’s defensive success can be captured in one crucial statistic. Cornell this season has averaged 56 field-goal attempts a night. Against the Tigers, they managed only 44 shots, including 17 three-point field goals. Princeton’s rigid defense has been denying its opponents open looks all season long, and that could prove to be the key down the stretch.
Though three games still await the Tigers this season, the prospect of bringing the Ivy title back to Old Nassau seems to have lodged itself in everyone’s mind.
“It’s pretty much all everybody thinks about, and it will be till next Tuesday,” Mavraides said. “We want it more than anything. No one on this team has ever won one, so it’ll be amazing. It’ll be great for the program and great for the graduating seniors as well.”
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