Postgame audio - Zach Finley, Marcus Schroeder, Nick Lake & Pawel Buczak:
Princeton Coach Sydney Johnson had to pause and compose himself.
Asked about his senior class after the conclusion of the Tigers' final regular season game, a 68-56 win versus Penn in which his team built a large enough halftime lead that they were able to cushion a considerable Quaker comeback for the program's 100th victory over their rival, Johnson's voice broke momentarily.
"These four seniors, they've gone through a lot. They've gone though a lot," an emotional Johnson said of Zach Finley, Marcus Schroeder, Nick Lake and Pawel Buczak. "I don't know if you ever win enough games to fill your heart up. I don't know if it is 20 wins, 21 wins...it's seeing them succeed in the face of adversity. It makes me happy. It makes me really happy."
The first half gave Johnson cause for elation. Scoring 23 straight eight minutes in, the orange and black opened up a 35-8 lead and held a 40-14 advantage at the break.
The second half was another story. Penn ran off nine in a row after intermission and kept shaving the Princeton lead down point by point, eventually drawing to 58-51 on a Jack Eggleston breakaway dunk with 2:16 to play.
As the Quakers pulled closer and closer still, with Princeton recording just five second half field goals, Johnson refused to call a time out.
On a night when the school honored four seniors playing their final regular season game, there wasn't much he could tell them that they hadn't already learned.
"They know the guys in our league. They know the other teams. Nothing's being thrown at them that is a surprise," Johnson said. I'm not going to call time out to give them a pep talk. That's just not how we coach and they understand that. It showed a lot of guts on their part and that's what we expect for them to try and figure it out."
Making 10-12 at the line in the waning moments, Princeton could exhale with their 20th win of the season and send the senior class off the floor with one last home win, sweeping Penn for the first time since 2001.
Sophomore guard Douglas Davis, who was held without a point for the first time in his collegiate career the other time these two teams met this season, scored 16 of his game high 21 in the first half.
Today's Game:Penn (6-21 / 5-8) vs. Princeton (19-8 / 10-3) Location: Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ Time: 8:00 pm ET Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB TV: N/A Internet: goprincetontigers.com Series History: Penn leads 122-99. Last meeting:Princeton 58 Penn 51 - 2/16/10.
Penn
Princeton
3-10
Home Record
9-3
3-11
Away Record
10-5
0-0
Neutral Record
0-0
304
RPI
126
315
Sagarin
137
304
Pomeroy
116
62.8
Points / Game
59.7
72.7
Points Allowed / Game
52.2
.414
FG%
.438
.747
FT%
.724
.316
3PT FG%
.365
30.6
Rebounds / Game
30.3
9.4
Off. Rebounds / Game
8.7
-2.1
Rebounding Margin
+1.3
13.6
Assists / Game
11.8
15.0
Turnovers / Game
13.1
1.9
Blocks / Game
3.1
Rosen: 17.7
Points
Davis: 12.4
Eggleston: 6.4
Rebounds
Mavraides: 4.4
Rosen: 4.4
Assists
Schroeder: 3.1
Belcore: 1.2
Steals
Schroeder: 1.7
Eggleston: 0.7
Blocks
Maddox: 0.8
Howlett: .559
FG% (Min: 10 FGM)
Finley: .614
Rosen: .862
FT% (Min: 10 FTM)
Saunders: .933
Rosen: .429
3PT FG% (Min: 10 3PTM)
Saunders: .462
The Princeton class of 2010, pictured as incoming freshmen.
Wednesday, March 10th
(9) South Florida / (16) DePaul winner vs. (8) Georgetown - 12:00 pm ET - ESPN Big East Tournament
Thursday, March 11th
(10) Indiana vs. (7) Northwestern - 5:00 pm ET - ESPN2 Big 10 Tournament
(6) Oregon State vs. (3) Washington - 9:00 pm ET - FSN Pac-10 Tournament
Friday, March 12th
(6) Charlotte / (11) UMass winner vs. (3) Richmond - 9:00 pm ET Atlantic 10 Tournament
Denver (19-13) fell short of North Texas in the Sun Belt semis, 63-56. The Pioneers were within one with under seven minutes to go, before Josh White scored five straight for the Mean Green.
Kareem Maddox represents Princeton in this week's Ivy Weekly Men's Basketball Report.
Behind 22 points and seven boards from Mason Rocca, Armani Jeans nipped Canadian Solar Bologna, 73-71.
John Shurna from Northwestern earned consensus second-team All-Big Ten status. Fellow Wildcat Drew Crawford was the media's choice for Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
Oregon State's Seth Tarver was named Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year.
Mercer is the 11 seed in the Division II Men�s Basketball National Tournament. They'll open round robin play versus Kishwaukee on Tuesday at 7:30 pm ET.
Here's your lineup for the week ahead. I'll update this schedule daily.
Monday, March 8th
(6) Denver vs. (2) North Texas - 9:30 pm ET - ESPN360 Sun Belt Tournament
Tuesday, March 9th
Penn vs. Princeton - 8:00 pm ET
Wednesday, March 10th
(9) South Florida / (16) DePaul winner vs. (8) Georgetown - 12:00 pm ET - ESPN Big East Tournament
Thursday, March 11th
(10) Indiana vs. (7) Northwestern - 5:00 pm ET - ESPN2 Big 10 Tournament
(6) Oregon State vs. (3) Washington - 9:00 pm ET - FSN Pac-10 Tournament
Friday, March 12th
(6) Charlotte / (11) UMass winner vs. (3) Richmond - 9:00 pm ET Atlantic 10 Tournament
Denver (19-12) began the second half on a 26-7 run, surprising #3 seed Middle Tennessee 73-58 to advance to the Sun Belt Tournament semis. The Pioneers shot 12-17 from the floor in the final 20 minutes.
A supplemental piece in the Crimson looks at the struggles of Princeton's and Harvard's leading scorers on Saturday.
Richmond's Kevin Anderson was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Year.
The New York Times' blog The Quad compliments yesterday's article on Chris Mooney with a post about what Mooney learned playing pickup ball on his recruiting visit to Princeton.
Georgetown's Greg Monroe was named All-Big East First Team. Austin Freeman made All-Big East Second Team.
Princeton recruit T.J. Bray is profiled by the Wisconsin Sports Network. Here's more detail on the most recent game for Bray, who had 13 of his 26 points in the third quarter of Catholic Memorial's win over East Troy.
As Princeton lined up for the national anthem on Saturday night, there was someone new on the sidelines. Someone noticeably smaller than the rest of the Tiger roster wearing orange and black.
You might have missed him in the long shadow of 6'10" Will Barrett as the Princeton ROTC presented the colors, but 10 year old Christian Regulski of Robbinsville, NJ shouldn't go overlooked.
Christian was paired with the Princeton men's basketball team by the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, an organization that matches a child who has a pediatric brain tumor with a nearby sports team.
The Tigers "adopted" Christian for the game. He was on the bench as Princeton warmed up the game and he joined the team for handshakes with Harvard after the final buzzer.
Coach Johnson spent a quiet moment with Christian on the Jadwin floor one-on-one before heading to the locker room.
"Our team's connection with Friends of Jaclyn stemmed from our players wanting to connect with people in our community beyond the basketball court," Johnson said. "We couldn't have guessed that Christian and his family would touch us so much. He's a really good kid, a funny kid and he's got a ton of courage."
The five leading scorers in the Ivy League this season are all guards - Penn's Zack Rosen, Cornell's Ryan Wittman, Yale's Alex Zampier, Harvard's Jeremy Lin and Columbia's Noruwa Agho.
Coming off the bench for Princeton, the longer and bouncier 6'8" Kareem Maddox has drawn each as his primary defensive assignment. While Maddox has not guarded each player for the entire game and will be the first to tell anyone who asks with agonizing modesty that it is team defense, not his individual play that is responsible for holding these players in check, the two game splits for all five compared to their season averages is telling.
The summer before last I spent a fair amount of time scanning classic trading cards of Princeton greats who played in the ABA and/or NBA including Brian Taylor, Geoff Petrie and Armond Hill.
Last night a new card was introduced, handed out to fans entering Jadwin Gym as part of the evening's festivities surrounding Taylor. Images of both sides have been added to this series and can be seen above.
Photos from the stellar postgame reception honoring Taylor will be up later today.
Georgetown (20-9) got 24 points from Austin Freeman and finished Big East play with an impressive 74-47 win over Cincinnati. HoyaHoops has postgame audio. The Hoyas' first conference tournament game will be Wednesday afternoon at 12:00 pm ET versus either South Florida or DePaul.
Indiana scored the first seven points of overtime and defeated Northwestern (19-12), 88-80. John Shurna scored 31 in the loss as the Wildcats struggle to find a consistent third scoring option.
Richmond (24-7) fared better in an extra frame, getting by Charlotte 89-84. Kevin Anderson hit from 25 feet out to force OT. The Spiders set a school record for regular season victories.
Richmond head coach Chris Mooney is profiled in the New York Times.
Oregon State (14-16) fell 82-70 to Washington. The two teams will meet again Thursday in the Pac-10 Tournament.
Denver (18-12) advanced to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament quarterfinals with a 71-64 win over Florida International.
Princeton recruit T.J. Bray had 26 in Catholic Memorial's 66-42 win over East Troy.
Future Tiger Ben Hazel and Good Counsel lost to O'Connell in the WCAC quarterfinals.
Around the Ivy League: Cornell (27-4 / 13-1) completed their championship campaign with a 79-59 win at Yale (12-19 / 6-8). Columbia (11-17 / 5-9) closed the year with a 65-56 win over Brown (11-20 / 5-9). Jack Eggleston had a career-best 25 as Penn (6-21 / 5-8) denied Dartmouth (5-23 / 1-13), 78-68.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Marcus Schroeder & Kareem Maddox:
After Princeton fell in a close game to Cornell at Jadwin Gym in mid-February, Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson spoke with a friend of his. A friend who is the men's basketball coach at Georgetown.
It was, recalled Johnson, the first time he said his squad might be pretty decent.
"I told [Coach Thompson] I really believed in this team and that we were good and I think we've shown that over the last month or so," Johnson said. "If the postseason comes calling for us, I think they'll have a good team involved in their tournament, because we're showing something."
Princeton improved its postseason tournament profile, recorded its 19th win and assured itself of a second place finish in the Ivy standings with a 54-51 victory over Harvard on Saturday night.
Oliver McNally was unable to get off a stable look from behind the arc with time running out and for the second time this season Harvard missed a tying three point shot against the Tigers as time ran out.
McNally’s off-balance miss punctuated a foul-plagued victory for the Tigers, who got an enormous contribution off the bench from junior forward Kareem Maddox.
Maddox scored a career high 18, made 10-11 at the free throw line and blocked a Jeremy Lin drive at the rim with the Tigers holding a one point lead late in the game.
Lin, Harvard's leading scorer, shot 1-8 from the floor, did not make a layup or a midrange jump shot - the hallmarks of his game - and never touched the ball on the Crimson's final possession of the season.
"He puts so much heat on you because he's pretty aggressive with the ball and tries to get low and draw fouls," Johnson said of Lin. "We worked on a scouting report, and the coaches did a very a good job. [The team] listened and they can apply it. They have the physical tools. We have some players. I think all of that worked together to slow Jeremy Lin down."
Marcus Schroeder converted four free throws in the final minute to take Princeton from a 51-50 deficit to the final margin of victory after Brandyn Curry had sent Harvard in front with a three point shot out of the left corner. Schroeder played all 40 minutes, adding five assists, six rebounds and a pair of steals.
Today's Game:Harvard (21-6 / 10-3) vs. Princeton (18-8 / 9-3) Location: Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ Time: 6:00 pm ET Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB TV: N/A Internet: goprincetontigers.com Series History: Princeton leads 124-38. Last meeting:Princeton 56 Harvard 53 - 2/5/10.
Harvard
Princeton
11-2
Home Record
8-3
10-4
Away Record
10-5
0-0
Neutral Record
0-0
97
RPI
143
97
Sagarin
143
108
Pomeroy
116
74.9
Points / Game
59.7
66.0
Points Allowed / Game
52.2
.485
FG%
.440
.769
FT%
.725
.357
3PT FG%
.366
33.1
Rebounds / Game
30.4
9.3
Off. Rebounds / Game
8.8
+2.6
Rebounding Margin
+1.7
15.7
Assists / Game
11.8
15.5
Turnovers / Game
13.3
4.7
Blocks / Game
3.0
Lin: 16.9
Points
Davis: 12.6
Casey: 5.3
Rebounds
Mavraides: 4.5
Lin: 4.6
Assists
Schroeder: 3.1
Lin: 2.6
Steals
Schroeder: 1.7
Wright: 1.5
Blocks
Maddox: 0.8
Magnarelli: .600
FG% (Min: 10 FGM)
Finley: .608
Webster: .864
FT% (Min: 10 FTM)
Saunders: .933
Casey: .424
3PT FG% (Min: 10 3PTM)
Saunders: .471
Georgetown vs. Cincinnati - 12:00 pm ET - ESPN360
Northwestern vs. Indiana - 12:00 pm ET - Big Ten Network
Richmond vs. Charlotte - 2:00 pm ET
Washington vs. Oregon State - 8:00 pm ET - FSN NW
Florida International vs. Denver - 9:45 pm ET - Sun Belt Tournament
Cornell vs. Yale - 7:00 pm ET
Dartmouth vs. Penn - 7:00 pm ET
Columbia vs. Brown - 7:00 pm ET
Around the Ivy League: Cornell (26-4 / 12-1) made 20 of their 30 three point shots to clinch the conference for a third straight season with a 95-76 win at Brown (11-19 / 5-8). Harvard (21-6 / 10-3) rallied for a 67-66 decision over Penn (5-21 / 4-8). It is the Crimson's first season sweep of the Quakers since 1942. Alex Zampier scored 15 points as Yale (12-18 / 6-7) stopped Columbia (10-17 / 4-9), 65-48.
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
