Men's Basketball: Yale, Brown to challenge at Jadwin

The men’s basketball team began its Ivy League journey on the road three weekends ago with double-digit victories over Brown and Yale. Princeton (15-6 overall, 6-1 Ivy League) starts its second round of Ivy League games when the Tigers square off against the Bulldogs (10-15, 4-4) in Jadwin Gymnasium at 7 p.m. tonight. On Saturday, Princeton will take on the Bears (8-17, 2-6).

Coming off a mid-week victory over Penn, the Tigers are not approaching this weekend as an opportunity to repeat their earlier victories.

“If we’re thinking about past successes, we’re thinking the wrong way,” head coach Sydney Johnson ’97 said. “Although we were able to win at Yale and Brown, they both had good moments against us the first time we played. They know that, and so do we. The important thing for us is to realize that playing well and having a chance to win comes with creating the same focus and energy each time we take the floor.”

Tonight, Princeton will have to concentrate on shutting down Yale forward Alex Zampier, who has been averaging 17.8 points per game this season, an Ivy League best. Zampier has also posted three 30-point games so far this season, most recently last Saturday when he netted 32 against Harvard. Brown’s main threat is center Matt Mullery, whose 15 points per game ranks sixth in the league.

Yale and Brown have both scored more points per game than Princeton in conference play. The Bulldogs averaged 67.6 points per game, which places them third in the league, followed by the Bears, with 61.8 points. Princeton has netted just 55.6 points per game against Ivy opponents. But for the Tigers, the name of the game is defense.

“Defense has been what we’ve talked about since the first day our team was together, and I think this weekend, for us to have success, our defense needs to be great,” senior guard and co-captain Marcus Schroeder said.

So far this season, the Tigers’ defense has spoken for itself. Princeton holds the No. 1 spot in the nation in scoring defense, allowing opponents 52.2 points per game as of last Sunday. This statistic is close to the modern Division I record of 50.9 points per game, held by the 2004 Air Force team.

The Tigers’ national defensive dominance shines even brighter in the Ivy League. Princeton has only allowed league rivals to score 46.6 points per game, a category it leads by nine points. Brown and Yale have both let their conference opponents score 67 points per game, placing them in the bottom of the Ancient Eight in scoring defense. The Tigers also have the best field-goal percentage defense.

“On defense, our focus is to play smart and to have the same level of energy each time we take the court —playing smart in the sense of knowing who to box out or how many fouls we’ve used on defense, for example,” Johnson explained. “In terms of playing with a lot of energy, we understand that now and then we will make a mistake, but if we’re playing hard, it seems like we’re able to cover for each other’s mistakes on the defensive end.”

Princeton’s defensive teamwork has served it well so far this season. The Tigers’ 15-6 record is the best 21-game record the team has posted since 1999, when Princeton was 16-5. In spite of its success, though, Princeton is focused on taking its games one at a time.

“We have to be more intense and play harder in the coming weeks because the second half of Ivy League play is tougher than the first,” junior forward Kareem Maddox said. “We’re looking at it as though we are 0-0. We can’t be content with what we’ve done so far because it could turn around on any given night. But we’re excited because we have mostly home games left and hopefully that helps us as we move forward, especially since we’re expecting every game to be a battle.”

The Tigers are the only team in the Ivy League that is undefeated on the road in conference play. This weekend, Princeton is looking to transfer its road success to its home court.

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“We know that it is tough for us to win on the road, so we need to remember that our opponents will be on the road this weekend, and we need to make it hard for them,” senior forward and co-captain Nick Lake said. “We also really appreciate all of the fan support we get at home. It makes it a fun environment to play in.”

Last weekend Princeton hosted 5,775 fans in the team’s valiant 48-45 loss to Cornell. That game had the highest attendance of any Ivy League game this season and the most spectators for a game at Jadwin since 2004. While the Tigers appreciate their fans, at the end of the day they know the game is in their own hands.

“Our fans have been amazing, and we are able to feed off their energy,” Schroeder said. “[But] we still need to bring our best effort, and that comes down to us.”