Men's Basketball: Princeton looking to start streak

Last year, the men’s basketball team kicked off the new year with a victory over UNC- Greensboro. That triumph sparked the Tigers to an eight-game winning streak.

Princeton (3-4) will look to use the Spartans as a springboard to sustained success once again when they meet this Sunday in Greensboro.

The Tigers, however, are still in the process of finding their identity as a team. Senior centers Pawel Buczak and Zach Finley got off to spectacular starts this season, but lately it’s been sophomore guard Doug Davis and sophomore forward Patrick Saunders leading the way.

And despite its experience from last year, Princeton is still a relatively young team.

“You still have to take some time to learn who you are and what works best, and hopefully we can do that sooner rather than later,” head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 said.

The Tigers are coming off their longest break in action thus far this season. Princeton upended Lafayette last Sunday behind a strong second half effort that saw the Tigers outscore the Leopards, 40-24. The win put a decisive end to Princeton’s four-game losing streak.

Davis and Saunders led the way with 23 and 15 points, respectively. The two combined to shoot nine of 14 on three-pointers. Junior guard Dan Mavraides also finished with double-digit points, with 13.

Last year, the Tigers defeated the Spartans at Jadwin Gymnasium, 65-55, but though Princeton led for nearly all 40 minutes, the game came down to the wire. After leading by 15 at one point in the first half, the Tigers found themselves up just three points with a little more than a minute remaining. Princeton drained 11 of 12 free throws in the remaining minute to ice the game.

Both teams come into this rematch battle-tested. The Tigers have slogged their way through an extremely tough non-conference schedule, with games against George Washington, California and Rutgers.

UNC-Greensboro(2-5)opened its season with No. 8 Duke. The Spartans have also squared off against Virginia Tech and No. 25 Clemson, so their 2-5 record is a little misleading.

“They challenged themselves very much in the early part of the season,” Johnson said. “And so although you take some tough losses, you learn how much harder you have to play and how tough it is to win at that level. I think they’re probably talking a lot about that and gearing up for a good game against us.”

UNC-Greensboro will take the court after losing a squeaker to conference foe College of Charleston. The Spartans fell, 67-64, this past Monday, but last Saturday they set a school record for the largest margin of victory over a Division I opponent when they smashed Samford, 73-40.

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UNC Greensboro relies on a trio of players to provide most of its offensive output.Forward Ben Stywall leads the team in scoring with 12.9 points per game on efficient 46.1 percent shooting. Guards Kyle Randall and Brandon Evans both have season averages of 10.7 points per game. Neither guard, however, has scored very efficiently — both shoot under 40 percent on the season. The numbers are undoubtedly skewed somewhat, however, considering the Spartans’ schedule.

Supplementing that trio is guard Mikko Koivisto. Koivisto has been something of a three-point specialist for the Spartans: Of the 34 field goals he has attempted, 27 have come from beyond the arc, where he’s shooting 37 percent. Evans and Randall also pose threats from beyond the arc.

Though UNC-Greensboro hasn’t shot well as a team — below 40 percent — it makes up for it with rebounding and free-throw attempts. The Spartans have shot more free throws and out-rebounded their opponents on the season.

Perhaps the biggest challenge — for both teams — will be the unknown. Last year’s contest was the first ever between the two teams, so neither team has much experience with what the other likes to do.

“We’re not as familiar with them, and they’re not as familiar with us,” Johnson said. “We haven’t historically played this game. We’ve only played them one year.”

For Princeton, it’s another chance to gain some confidence and momentum. The Tigers played well in each of their last two games against Rutgers and Lafayette, but the ball dropped against the latter and not against the former, and that was essentially the difference.

The two games reinforced the fact that no one loss or victory, no great or terrible night shooting the rock will get Princeton where it needs to be.

“What I focus on is their level of commitment to getting better individually and as a team,” Johnson said. “If we focus on that … if we focus on our effort and our commitment, the results we want will come. A true player is solid every single day. All of our guys go hard in practice every day and commit to what we want to do as a team.”

“Don’t get too high, don’t get too low,” he added. “Just go hard on a daily basis, and we’ll get there.”