Liveblog: MBB @ Columbia
Live from Levien gymnasium in New York City. Follow along as Princeton tries to keep its third place (and postseason) hopes alive
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Live from Levien gymnasium in New York City. Follow along as Princeton tries to keep its third place (and postseason) hopes alive
Coming out of its best weekend of the season, the Princeton men’s basketball team looks to build off of last week’s success as the Tigers commence the hunt for joint third in the Ivy League. After a season filled with close losses and disappointment, the Tigers (17-8 overall, 5-6 Ivy League) now have a chance to end the season strongly and put themselves in postseason consideration.
Men sweep Brown and Yale in final weekend of home conference play
There is certainly no rest for the weary. Fresh off of a disheartening loss to Harvard, the men’s basketball team must start the second half of their home-stand against two of the Ivy League's best: Yale and Brown. Though out of league contention themselves, the Tigers face off against two teams still in the hunt for the No. 1 spot.
In a play symbolic of Princeton’s season, sophomore forward Hans Brase missed a dunk with eight minutes left and the Tigers (15-8 overall, 3-6 Ivy League) trailing Harvard by one. The Crimson (22-4, 9-1) took the ball right up the court and guard Brandyn Curry hit a tide-turning three. Moments later they went up six on forward Steve Mondou-Missi’s authoritative dunk and Princeton never recovered.
The men’s basketball team will not win the Ivy League. But Princeton (14-7 overall, 2-5 Ivy League) still has plenty of reasons to fight. A big one is the continuation of the 24 year home win streak against Harvard, who will be visiting Jadwin Gymnasium Saturday night. The streak survived against the 25th ranked team two years ago and a 2-12 season in the league with a double overtime win in 2007. A similarly big upset will be required to extend it.
Halfway through the gauntlet that is Ivy League regular season men’s basketball, Harvard and Yale stand at the top of a competitive table. As teams start to find their identity — for better or for worse — here is how the Ancient Eight rank: Harvard (20-4 overall, 7-1 Ivy League): First team all-Ivy League swingman Wesley Saunders alongside point guard Siyani Chambers feature in a talented offensive backcourt that can more or less enforce its will upon the rest of the league. The Crimson has the second hottest offense in the league, averaging almost 73 points per game. Cambridge has been a citadel, save for the upset home loss to Yale. Yale (13-9, 7-1): The Bulldogs sit a close second in this ranking. A 74-67 win at Harvard two weekends back and a tight 66-65 overtime win over Princeton showed this team’s resiliency and ability to execute. Offensive rebounding appears to be the strength of this team, with forward Justin Sears ranking third in the league with 7.0 boards per game. They will host the Crimson two weekends from now in a game that could decide the league’s champion. Brown (13-9, 5-3): Freshman forward Leland King provided 15 points in just 20 minutes in a losing effort against Princeton. His weekend performances won him league Rookie of the Week honors. The backcourt is solidified by Sean McGonagill, who ranks just behind Princeton’s senior point guard TJ Bray in points per game with 17.8. Strong forward play makes Brown one of the best rebounding teams in the league. Additionally, the Bears keep their opponents to the lowest shooting percentage in the league. Columbia (15-10, 4-4): 34 points from Co-Player of the Week and forward Alex Rosenberg helped push the league-leading Crimson to two overtime periods. The Lions could not pull off the home upset, however. Their offensive and defensive shot percentages are around the league averages, so it’s not surprising that this team sits at .500. Penn (6-15, 3-4): The Quakers are unable to shake opposing three-point shooters, as opponents have converted 50 of 134 attempts from beyond the arc. That equates to a league-worst 37.3 three-point percentage by their opponents. On the positive side, 6’ 11” center Darien Nelson-Henry ranks fifth in the league in rebounds per game and first in shooting percentage, though he only plays 20 minutes per game in conference. Princeton (14-7, 2-5): An inability to consistently boxout and secure rebounds has been a fairly constant problem for the Tigers. Additionally, a decidedly unremarkable record in close games this season may come down to either bad luck or late-game nerves. TJ Bray ranks first in assists and points per game, and he limits turnovers to 1.8 per game. In any case, the highly-touted Tigers are seeing their championship hopes slip away. Dartmouth (9-13, 2-6): The Dartmouth men have slipped severely of late. After an impressive 2-2 start, including a home overtime win over Princeton, the Big Green has dropped four consecutive matchups. A wild comeback at Cornell failed to result in a victory. Despite its best efforts, this squad will not be competing seriously in a competitive league. Cornell (2-20, 1-7): In 25 consecutive games against Division I opponents, Cornell’s squad has lost 25. All that changed when the Big Red managed to put up a 15-point lead on Dartmouth at home and hold on to win 70-67. Sophomore guard Noah Cressler managed 17 points against both Dartmouth and Harvard.
Senior guard and captain T.J. Bray got the ball with 4.4 seconds left near midcourt and made one final drive to the basket to try and lift the Tigers over the Bulldogs. In a play symbolic of Princeton’s (14-7 overall, 2-5 Ivy League) Ivy League performance, he got all the way into the paint, before fumbling the ball out of bounds. Yale (13-9, 7-1) won 66-65 in overtime, ending any miracle Ivy League title runs the team may have dreamed of the night before after escaping Brown with a 69-65 victory.
Coming off a rough homestand, the Tigers head out for what looks to be their toughest weekend of the season. After going 1-1 against two of the weaker teams in the Ivy League, Princeton (13-6 overall, 1-4 Ivy League) now stand at seventhin the conference and must take on some of the best and (literally) biggest of the Ivies, Brown and Yale.
The men’s basketball team suffered another crushing defeat Friday night against Columbia before rebounding to smother Cornell Saturday in the first pair of conference matchups at home. Princeton (13-6 overall, 1-4 Ivy League) fell 53-52 to the Lions (14-9, 3-3) after a couple of controversial calls in the final minute went against the Tigers. The next night saw Princeton play its best defense of the season, stymieing the Big Red (1-19, 0-6) in a 69-48 win, the first against a Division I opponent this calendar year.
Men’s basketball will try to turn its season around this weekend in match-ups against Columbia and Cornell at Jadwin Gymnasium. Princeton (12-5 overall, 0-3 Ivy League) is winless through three conference games for the first time since 2007 when they lost their first four league contests en route to a 2-12 record. Despite a sterling non-conference record, the Tigers have been unable to win close games recently, losing by three and six at Penn and Harvard respectively and taking Dartmouth to overtime.
This is the first in a series of articles recounting the feats of great Princeton teams from a variety of sports.
The men's basketball team suffered two Ivy League defeats over the weekend, effectively eliminating the already-small chance they had at winning the conference. Friday night saw Princeton (12-5 overall, 0-3 Ivy League) fall 82-76 at Harvard (18-3, 4-0). Playing at Dartmouth (9-9, 2-2) the following night, the Tigers forced overtime before losing 78-69. Princeton’s defensive woes continued as both opponents shot greater than 50 percent from the field, including more than 40 percent from three, and outrebounded the Tigers.Princeton ended its finals break with a home matchup last Sunday versus Division III Kean College. The Tigers jumped out to an early 19-2 lead and never looked back, coasting to an 84-54 victory. Just about every player on the roster saw action as nobody played more than 25 minutes. Senior guard T.J. Bray, senior forward Will Barrett and freshman forward Spencer Weisz led the way with 15 points each. Princeton shot the ball 62 times from the field, the most in regulation since they played Goucher, another Division III opponent, four years ago. Even more impressive were the 43 attempted three-pointers, a mark that set the school record for three-point attempts in regulation. The Tigers also pulled in 45 rebounds and recorded seven blocks, both the most since last year’s game against Division III TCNJ.“Coach Carril reiterated to me and the staff how important this game is for us,” said Coach Mitch Henderson ’98. “Exams here can do funny things to you and [this game] is just a way of reminding our guys you got to get the blood and competitive juices flowing a little bit.”Princeton then traveled to Cambridge to face Harvard in the first of two critical matchups against the three-time reigning conference champs. Princeton hung right with Harvard in the first half, shooting a blazing 61 percent from the field including five of nine from beyond the arc. Sophomore forward Hans Brase scored the team’s first 11 points and had 18 at the half on seven-of-nine shooting. But the Tigers also turned the ball over 10 times, matching their season average, and allowed the Crimson six offensive rebounds. This meant that Harvard got six more shots than the Tigers, which, combined with Princeton’s paradoxically abysmal 2-8 from the line, resulted in a 36-35 Crimson lead at the half. Princeton’s shooting cooled off in the second half as Harvard built up a 63-48 advantage with 9:40 left.“I thought the key to the game was the first four minutes of the second half,” Henderson said afterwards. “Saunders took over and kind of changed the game and we let up a couple huge threes.”It was still an 11-point lead with 2:44 to play when, as usual, the senior duo of Bray and Barrett took over. A three from Bray with under a minute to play got the deficit to four, but Princeton missed three shots on their ensuing possession and the game was all but over. Bray led the way for the Tigers with 12 of the team’s last 16 points en route to a career- and game-high 26 on a season best nine-of-13 shooting. Brase also recorded a career high 20 points and added seven rebounds. Wesley Saunders had a fantastic outing for the Crimson, leading them in points, rebounds and assists with 24, 9 and 7.“I didn’t want to start this way but you just try to win every game. You can’t look ahead to the next night,” Bray said. “Now we’re 0-2 and we’ve got to try and claw our way out of it.”The loss to Harvard was bad enough, but very much expected as the Tigers were 7.5 point underdogs going in. The loss to Dartmouth, though, was about as shocking as the loss to Penn, another team Princeton was expected to beat by about eight points. Henderson opted for a different starting lineup featuring four forwards. Freshman forward Steven Cook got the first start of his career and freshman guard Spencer Weisz started for the first time since Bray sat out against Fairleigh Dickinson. Senior guard Jimmy Sherburne came off the bench for the first time all season and saw less than a minute on the court, while junior forward Denton Koon saw his second-fewest minutes of the season with 12. Meanwhile, senior guard Chris Clement played 26 minutes, the second-most of his season.The game was close for the entirety of regulation, as Dartmouth never built more than a six point lead. Barrett’s layup and foul shot with 18 seconds left tied the game at 63 and aggressive defense sent the game to overtime. Everything fell apart in overtime as Princeton committed three turnovers and six fouls, and made just two buckets. Dartmouth shot 11-of-12 from the line in the extra period, putting the game out of reach with 30 seconds left following a technical foul.“Dartmouth’s playing really well,” Henderson said. “They’re playing like a team and rooting like hell for each other. They beat us.”There were still some positives to the game. For the last four-and-a-half minutes of regulation, Princeton played some of its most aggressive defense of the year, double-teaming the ball on every possession. They forced four Dartmouth turnovers and erased a six-point deficit during that span. Barrett dropped a career high 28 points, a mark not bettered by a Princeton player since Kareem Maddox ’11 put up 31 against Tulsa in December 2010.“I just like to take what comes to me and they were giving me open shots so I was taking them. My shot felt great today,” Barrett said.Bray added 16 and, following the Harvard game, has now played in 75 percent of the team’s games, making him officially eligible for the statistics leaderboards. He appears among the NCAA’s top-20 in assists per game, as well as the more complex categories of effective field goal percentage, offensive rating and win shares per 40 minutes.The Ivy League is the only conference without a postseason tournament and thus awards its NCAA bid to the regular season champion. This results in an unmatched level of competition and tenacity in the gauntlet pundits have dubbed the “fourteen game tournament”. At 0-3, Princeton is already three-and-a-half games behind undefeated Harvard, a deficit TeamRankings.com says there is a .7 percent chance of overcoming.“We’ve got to take a look at everything and try to figure things out,” Henderson said after the Dartmouth loss. “We continue to put ourselves in a really bad hole so we’ve got a lot of work to do. There’s still a lot of basketball left to play.”Up next are games against Columbia and Cornell, the first two home matchups in league play and the first home matchups in two months that all students will actually be on campus for. This weekend is sure to go better than the last as Princeton has lost just one home Ivy League contest in the last three seasons and Cornell has yet to beat a Division I opponent this year.
PHILADELPHIA, PA -Princeton’s hopes of an Ivy League title took a huge hit Saturday with a shocking 77-74 loss to Penn at the Palestra.
The men's basketball team begins the "Fourteen-Game Tournament" that is the Ivy League season tonight with a trip to the Palestra to face rival Penn. The teams have had opposite seasons so far, with the Quakers winning just two of their first 12 games and the Tigers (11-2) off to their best start in recent memory. Still, in the Ancient Eight, anything can happen when these two teams, which have 47 Ivy titles between them, face off. The 'Prince' is here on the liveblog to bring you all the action.
It is a time-honored tradition that, before the first men's basketball game of the season between Princeton and Penn, the Sports Editors of theDaily PrincetonianandDaily Pennsylvanianexchange columns in which they trash-talk the other school's team. Though we felt sort of bad doing it this year, given Penn's record, we nonetheless proudly present this year's exchange.Daily PennsylvanianSports Editors Steven Tydings, Ian Wenik and Riley Steele's column can be found here. Below is Sports Editor Stephen Wood's column:
The men’s basketball team faced their final opponent before beginning Ivy League play on Saturday, traveling to Lynchburg, Va., to defeat Liberty 80-74.
The halftime score was 35-23, and the men's basketball team was being outshot, outrebounded and outplayed. When the Tigers (8-1) came out of the gates slowly in the second half to go down 41-23 with a full 17 minutes left, Princeton fans had plenty of reason to give up. After all, Princeton was shooting just 29 percent from the floor including an abysmal 15.4 percent from behind the arc. Penn State (8-4) was dominating the paint, shooting 60 percent from inside and outrebounding the Tigers 24-9.
The men’s basketball team squares off against Penn State Saturday in what should be one of the toughest games of the season for the Tigers. And as if that wasn’t exciting enough, the game will also be played at Penn State’s Rec Hall — the home of Nittany Lions basketball from 1929-96 — instead of the Bryce Jordan Center, the first time a game has been held there in 18 years.