While I was sitting courtside in DC I learned Princeton had picked up a surprise fifth commitment for the 2010 class. I'll be speaking with his head coach later today for a feature on the site.
While I'll be flying to California, look for the princetonbasketball.com 2009 Holiday Gift Guide tomorrow morning on the site. I suggest you buy two of everything.
Around the Ivy League: Yale (2-4) bested Elon, 69-65. Cornell (2-2) fell at #9 Syracuse, 88-73. Columbia (2-1) won its second straight, outscoring Bucknell 30-8 in the final 10 minutes of a 73-59 Lions victory. Dartmouth (0-4) is still looking for their first win after a 58-41 loss to Loyola (Md.) in Hanover. In a game that saw neither team make a three point shot, Drexel defeated Penn (0-4) by a 58-49 count.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Patrick Saunders & Marcus Schroeder:
Sometimes a several hundred word recap attempting to summarize a basketball game isn't nearly as effective as a single quote from a postgame press conference.
Asked about how his team played against George Washington in comparison to the Tigers' effort against Army on Saturday afternoon, Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson described the night perfectly.
"There was an effort there. There was some passion. We competed. We didn't quite shoot the ball the way we wanted to. We didn't close out some things defensively. [We] showed some caring, which was not quite evident the last time out," Johnson said.
That statement told you everything you needed to know about Princeton's 65-50 loss to the Colonials. The Tigers played much better at GW than they did in their previous game versus the Black Knights, but the result was the same.
George Washington hit three times from outside during a late 15-2 run that turned a five point Colonial lead with under six minutes to play into a 64-46 advantage. Freshman Bryan Bynes’ back-to-back triples extended the GW lead to 18 and sent Princeton home with their second straight loss.
Today's Game:Princeton (2-1 / 0-0) vs. George Washington (3-0 / 0-0) Location: Charles E. Smith Center - Washington, DC Time: 7:00 pm ET Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB TV: N/A Internet: goprincetontigers.com Series History: Princeton leads 2-1. Last meeting:George Washington 60 Princeton 57 - 12/3/01.
Princeton
George Washington
1-1
Home Record
1-0
1-0
Away Record
2-0
0-0
Neutral Record
0-0
194
RPI
153
244
Sagarin
47
232
Pomeroy
46
61.3
Points / Game
79.7
59.9
Points Allowed / Game
60.3
.435
FG%
.479
.772
FT%
.581
.345
3PT FG%
.419
32.0
Rebounds / Game
48.0
8.5
Off. Rebounds / Game
15.3
+3.7
Rebounding Margin
+13.7
9.7
Assists / Game
13.7
18.0
Turnovers / Game
17.7
2.7
Blocks / Game
6.3
Mavraides: 14.3
Points
Kromah: 15.3
Lake, Hummer: 5.0
Rebounds
Pellom: 6.3
Schroeder, Mavraides: 2.3
Assists
Taylor: 4.3
Hummer: 1.3
Steals
Kromah, Taylor: 2.3
Finley, Buczak, Hummer: 0.7
Blocks
Hollis, Edwards: 1.3
Finley: .600
FG%
Conward: 1.000
Davis, Lake, Schroeder, Maddox: 1.000
FT%
Johnson: .800
Mavraides, Buczak, Schroeder: .400
3PT FG%
King: .750
Liberty vs. Northwestern - 6:30 pm ET - Chicago Invitational Challenge - bigtennetwork.com
MCCC vs. Lackawana - 7:00 pm ET
Longwood vs. Richmond - 7:00 pm ET - South Padre Island Invitational
Yale vs. Elon - 4:30 pm ET - NIT Season Tip-Off
Cornell vs. Syracuse - 7:00 pm ET - SNY
Loyola (Md.) vs. Dartmouth - 7:00 pm ET
Drexel vs. Penn - 7:00 pm ET - TCN
Bucknell vs. Columbia - 8:00 pm ET
Heading down to DC this afternoon. Hope to see a few familiar faces at George Washington. Make sure to check our Twitter feed for in-game updates, images and additional info during tonight's contest.
Dan Mavraides made the Honor Roll of the Ivy Weekly Men�s Basketball Report.
Northwestern hosts Liberty as the Chicago Invitational Challenge continues.
This is only tangentially related, but Chris O'Brien, who was the first recruit to commit to the Tigers under Sydney Johnson, took a gap year and then was denied admission to Princeton has transferred from San Francisco to Cal Poly.
Around the Ivy League: Yale (1-4) lost to Charlotte 88-74 in NIT play. Army followed up their win against Princeton with a 56-53 triumph over Harvard (3-1).
For the first installment of what will hopefully become an ongoing series, I exchanged emails with Andrew from Colonial Hoops, who was kind enough to answer my questions about Princeton's next opponent - the George Washington Colonials. If you cover a team the Tigers will face down the line, let us know. We'd love to talk with you.
Aaron Ware leads the team in scoring coming off the bench. What sort of player is he?
Ware is a fast, high energy, slashing guy, and is kind of a do-it-all - defense, rebounding, etc. However, with this team there isn't much difference between starters and bench players, as [head coach Karl] Hobbs substitutes a lot and the team goes very deep.
How much of a factor is youth for this year's George Washington squad? Going into Saturday's game versus UMBC, the team's top three scorers are two sophomore and a freshman.
It's pretty big. There's a lot of contributions from the newcomers, but some returnees are having surprisingly big roles. Big man Jabari Edwards was virtually absent last year, but he's playing great as a defensive stopper and rebounder. The freshman are led by Lasan Kromah, who's been a big time scorer so far - 21 points in about 11 minutes against UMBC, while the other freshman have had important roles. Senior Damian Hollis was thought to be the star going into the season, but hasn't had to do too much thanks to contributions by the frosh. I expect Hollis to lead the team in rebounding and maybe scoring by the end of the season.
What does George Washington need to do to beat Princeton?
Play the Hobbs game: play strong trapping defense, force turnovers, get easy baskets off breaks and alley-oops and hit open looks from outside. The Colonials also hit the boards very well as a team against UMBC, outrebounding them 57-27. That's a key.
What does Princeton need to do to defeat GW?
If the Colonials got stuck in a half-court offense in the last two seasons, they were pretty easy to beat. The half-court offense often seemed to consist of passing it around the perimeter lazily and hoping somebody got open. Against UMBC the half-court seemed to have more energy and there were better entry passes, but if Princeton can stop that, it could get ugly for GW. GW also can struggle against wide bodies down low and free throw shooting has been an issue.
The Colonials have not shot the ball well two games in, yet they're 2-0. What's been the difference in these games?
Depth is a big factor - GW can go 12 deep and just wear out other teams. If one guy's off, another guy has stepped up - a lot of times a player will score in double figures one game but not another. I would guess that makes it hard to plan against the team.
What sort of expectations are there for George Washington this year, both from local media and fans?
Not much! The team missed the A-10 tournament for two years in a row, so hopes were not high at all. There was a lot of anger from GW fans after last season, with some demanding Hobbs be fired, but after the recruiting class came out that's died down. The local media basically forgot about the team, what with Georgetown, Maryland and even George Mason doing well lately (though a lack of outreach during GW's good seasons didn't help). I'd be happy if the team finised the year at .500, though after these three games, there's a bit more optimism. The athletic department has also done a great job getting fans excited, too.
While Princeton is coming off a disappointing loss to Army, GW had a convincing win over UMBC on Saturday. Tell me about the game.
A great game! GW played the Hobbs style well, forcing 15 UMBC turnovers and scoring 27 points off them, and freshman Lasan Kromah was nasty, scoring 20 points in the first half, hitting four threes in a row over less than two minutes. Pretty much the entire team contributed and as I mentioned before, they crushed UMBC on the boards. The crowd was really into it, ten players had at least 5 points and every non-walk on scored. As an example of stepping up when somebody else is down, Aaron Ware only had two!
Any memories of the last time these two teams met eight years ago?
I was at the game at the MCI Center [a 60-57 Princeton loss in the consolation round of the 2001 BB&T tournament - JS], and I remember that Greg Collucci, one of our shooters, had a monster game. Collucci is now an assistant for the team. All-time leading scorer Chris Monroe was on that team too. I think that was Karl Hobbs' first year.
Thanks for your time, Andrew! Princeton and George Washington tip off at 7:00 pm ET on Tuesday night at the Charles E. Smith Center.
Chattanooga vs. Richmond - 5:00 pm ET - South Padre Island Invitational
Tennessee St. vs. Northwestern - 8:00 pm ET - Chicago Invitational Challenge - bigtennetwork.com
Sportswriter Jeff Pearlman took in yesterday's game with Patrick Connolly, father of Princeton freshman center Brendan Connolly.
Oregon State (1-3) lost to Sacramento State by two. The Beavers trailed 44-22 at halftime, leading coach Craig Robinson to say "at this point in our development, to have an effort like that at home is just embarrassing."
Four player in double figures for #19 Georgetown (3-0), who dismissed Savannah State by 19.
Richmond and Chattanooga meet on South Padre Island.
Northwestern opens Chicago Invitational Challenge play at home versus Tennessee State.
Around the Ivy League: A shorthanded Penn (0-3) squad remained winless with a double overtime loss to Delaware. Dartmouth (0-3) is the other member of the Ancient Eight without a victory. The Big Green were pounded 83-60 at Furman. Yale (1-3) lost their home opener to Quinnipiac, 81-74.
Army coach Zach Spiker may only have been hired away from Cornell for his first head coaching position on October 3rd of this year, but the deft defensive game plan he drew up for the Black Knights against Princeton on Sunday was work traditionally crafted by someone with more than seven weeks on the job.
The strategy to double and occasionally triple-team Princeton's big men in the low block forced both the resurgent Zach Finley (0-0 from the field, four turnovers) and fellow senior Pawel Buczak (five points, three turnovers) into mistakes. Neither was able to feel pressure coming from behind them or dribble out of trouble and quickly locate the open man.
Because Princeton was unable to score inside, Army began trapping Tiger guards on the wings. Removing the three point shot as a viable weapon. When Princeton's ballhandlers would attempt to penetrate, the Black Knights doubled the potential recipient of a pass inside, swatting the ball loose.
Army recorded the game's first 10 points and built an insurmountable advantage. Princeton was unable to score until 12:19 remained in the first half.
"We got outplayed. They had a good scouting report that we've actually seen in the past. This early in the year, that threw us off," said Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson. "We do have experienced guys I thought that possibly could play through that and that didn't prove to be the case. We got out-competed. I'm heartbroken, to be honest. That's hard to reconcile."
A reader got this into my head last night, but I didn't have a chance to review the play-by-play until early this morning: Against Manhattan on Wednesday, Princeton was +18 in the scoring column when freshman forward Ian Hummer (above, left) was in the game.
First Half
2-12 IN 15:26
23-20 OUT 4:55 (+13)
25-26 IN 2:29
31-34 OUT 0:34 (-2)
Second Half
35-35 IN 17:09
57-52 OUT 1:09 (+5)
57-52 IN 0:44
59-54 OUT 0:07 (+2)
In the season opener at Central Michigan, Hummer helped the Tigers to a +10 advantage when he was on the floor, despite sitting on the bench for the last 9:41 of the second half.
The Oregon State home opener is today versus Sacramento State.
#19 Georgetown visits former Hoya guard Horace Broadnax and his Savannah State Tigers.
Around the Ivy League: Cornell (2-1) had their home opener spoiled by Seton Hall, 89-79. Columbia (1-1) had little problem with Longwood, 72-61. Harvard (3-0) stayed perfect with a 77-51 cruise past Bryant. Brown (1-3) fell by three at St. John's.
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 Richmond Spiders, Denver Pioneers, Oregon State Beavers, Fairfield Stags 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.
Sun. 11/10 vs. Florida A&M
Sat. 11/16 at Butler
Wed. 11/20 vs. Lafayette
Sat. 11/23 at Rice
Tue. 11/26 vs. George Mason
Sat. 11/30 at Bucknell
Sat. 12/7 vs. FDU
Wed. 12/11 at Rutgers
Sat. 12/14 at Penn State
Fri. 12/20 vs. Portland*
Sat. 12/21 vs. Pacific*
Tue. 12/31 vs. Kent State
Sat. 1/4 at Liberty
Sat. 1/11 at Penn
Sun. 1/26 vs. Kean
Fri. 1/31 at Harvard
Sat. 2/1 at Dartmouth
Fri. 2/7 vs. Columbia
Sat. 2/8 vs. Cornell
Fri. 2/14 at Brown
Sat. 2/15 at Yale
Fri. 2/21 vs. Dartmouth
Sat. 2/22 vs. Harvard
Fri. 2/28 vs. Yale
Sat. 3/1 vs. Brown
Fri. 3/7 at Cornell
Sat. 3/8 at Columbia
Tue. 3/11 vs. Penn
2,503 - B. Bradley, 1962-65
1,625 - I. Hummer, 2009-13
1,550 - D. Davis, 2008-12
1,546 - K. Mueller, 1987-91
1,451 - P. Campbell, 1959-62
1,441 - C. Robinson, 1979-83
1,428 - B. Earl, 1995-99
1,365 - B. Scrabis, 1985-89
1,321 - G. Petrie, 1967-70
1,292 - H. Haabestad, 1952-55
1,277 - G. Lewullis, 1995-99
1,239 - B. Taylor, 1970-72
1,207 - S. Goodrich 1994-98
1,133 - F. Sowinski, 1975-78
1,130 - R. Hielscher, 1991-95
1,122 - C. Thomforde, 1966-69
1,099 - T. Manakas, 1970-73
1,090 - J. Wallace, 2001-05
1,088 - C. Belz, 1956-59
1,079 - B. Hauptfuhrer, 1973-76
1,076 - B. Roma, 1976-79
1,071 - C. Mooney, 1990-94
1,064 - A. Hyland, Jr., 1960-63
1,062 - L. Brangan, 1957-60
1,057 - A. Hill, 1973-76
1,054 - D. Mavraides, 2007-11
1,044 - S. Johnson, 1993-1997
1,031 - J. Hummer, 1967-70
1,010 - W. Venable, 2001-05
