Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon sat down at Jadwin Gym to discuss Princeton’s first Ivy weekend of the season and to discuss the Tigers’ return to the hardwood following their annual exam break. This interview is 12:00+ in length.
That’s how long Georgetown kept St. John’s from recording a field goal to start Wednesday night’s Big East contest at Madison Square Garden.
The Hoyas obliterated the Red Storm 74-42 in a game that generated all kinds of jaw-dropping numbers.
St. John’s turned the ball over on their first three possessions and nearly committed a shot clock violation the first two times down the court.
Justin Burrell’s bank shot ended a stretch that spanned three media time outs, included 12 turnovers and saw 11 missed field goals by the home team. It is possible that this was the longest field goal drought to begin a Division I college basketball game in the shot clock era.
A sarcastic standing ovation from several St. John’s fans was the closest thing to applause the Red Storm earned all night as Georgetown’s lead was cut to 31-7.
If Burrell had not scored again from the floor with :33 left in the half, St. John’s would have equaled Penn’s record-setting solitary field goal from their embarrassing first half against Florida Gulf Coast earlier this season.
The Red Storm’s assist-to-turnover ratio in the first twenty minutes? 1:13.
Georgetown went to the break up 41-14, bringing back memories of a 41-9 Hoya advantage at St. John’s in 1982. John Thompson II’s team then scored the first 12 points after intermission.
It only took 5:35 for St. John’s to score in the second half on a Malik Boothe layup in transition.
When Patrick Ewing got free on the left baseline for a two-handed throw-down, the lead was at its apex of 39 and the Hoyas were more than tripling their opponent’s point total with 15 minutes still to be played.
It was St. John’s worst-ever loss in Big East play and the first time the Red Storm had not scored at least 40 points in a game since 1963. If Georgetown had been shut out in the second half, they would have lost – by one.
Backup center Vernon Macklin was the game’s high scorer, recording a career-best 18 points on 8-10 shooting, including a lovely jumper banked off the glass when spinning to his left. Macklin continues to struggle at the foul line, but showed diversity and depth to his game not seen previously this season. Jessie Saap added 10 on the strength of three shots from behind the arc and Roy Hibbert had 11 of his own in 19 minutes of play.
Patrick Ewing Jr. started in place of injured Georgetown forward DaJuan Summers. Coach Thompson said following the game that he went to bed last night under the impression Summers would play but learned today from the team medical staff that it would be unwise for Summers to suit up.
Ever wondered why there’s a bright orange number that occassionally changes underneath “The Streak” on the right sidebar of this site? Well…
Friday night’s game between Dartmouth and Princeton will mark the 100th consecutive Ivy League contest I’ll have covered in person for princetonbasketball.com. There’s no other individual – on the sidelines, at press row or in the stands – that can make this claim. Being a consistent, reliable beat reporter through both good times and bad times for the Tigers over the past eight seasons is something I’m very proud of and I could not have accomplished this feat without your support.
For those of you keeping score at home, Princeton has gone 63-36 in conference play during this stretch, with three postseason appearances.
Georgetown vs. St. John’s – 7:00 pm ET – ESPN+
Richmond vs. Rhode Island – 7:00 pm ET – COX
UTPA vs. Northwestern – 8:00 pm ET – bigtennetwork.com
Georgetown travels to Madison Square Garden tonight to face the Red Storm. We’ll be courtside and will have postgame audio up later this evening.
In advance of the St. John’s game, the New York Times profiles Hoya Jonathan Wallace and the Washington Post turns its attention to teammate Patrick Ewing Jr.
WZBN has a video package of nearly every interesting play from Princeton’s win over Dominican. Can’t figure out how to embed this footage on the site, so a link will have to do.
Richmond looks to hand Rhode Island its first home loss of the season.
In Evanston, Northwestern hosts Texas-Pan American in their final non-conference game on the season.
If you missed it on Saturday night, here is video of the final two plays from Georgetown’s 58-57 win over West Virginia matched up with Rich Chvotkin’s radio call. The Washington Post has more from Chvotkin on what it is like to call a game-winning shot.
73 days passed since the last time Princeton was on the winning end of a basketball game.
The Tigers’ longest losing streak in program history came to a close on Sunday afternoon against Division II Dominican College. Princeton finished its annual exam break with a 60-46 victory over the Chargers.
Sophomore guard Lincoln Gunn was the game’s high scorer, recording 13 points. Gunn connected from outside the arc three times.
Zach Finley filled up the box score from inside the paint with 12 points, eight rebounds, four blocked shots, four assists and seven turnovers.
Dominican’s only player in double figures was Will Carty, who tallied 12.
princetonbasketball.com was founded on April 28th, 1998 in an attempt to provide fans of the Princeton Tigers and Ivy League basketball with the best on-line source for up-to-date news and information. We have since expanded to launch a companion site, Georgetown Basketball News.
As these sites have continued to grow we have increased our coverage to include additional teams with Princeton connections - the Northwestern Wildcats, Richmond Spiders, Denver Pioneers, Oregon State Beavers and Mercer County Community College Vikings - plus former Tigers playing professional baseball and basketball all over the world. This site is not directly affiliated with the Friends of Princeton Basketball, Princeton University or the Princeton athletic department.