Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Ian Hummer & Douglas Davis:
There was no other way to put it, so Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson didn't put it any other way.
"We flatly just got outplayed. We made it close but clearly they were the tougher team," said Johnson after his team closed out CBE play at James Madison with a 69-67 loss to Presbyterian.
The Tigers trailed 62-55 with 4:48 left in the second half of their third game in three days and rallied to go up one on Douglas Davis' sixth three pointer of the afternoon with :28 still to play but could not stop Blue Hose center Al'Lonzo Coleman as he bumped his way inside for a layup that flipped the lead for the 11th and final time.
"He was a tough out for us," assessed Johnson of Coleman, who finished with 17 points to lead Presbyterian. We tried to mix in some different things but obviously [big men] were trouble for us these last three games."
Coleman scored over Princeton's Ian Hummer, who had a career game of 24 points on 10-13 shooting along with 14 rebounds - the most by a Tiger since Zach Finley grabbed 15 in a 2009 OT loss to Penn and Hummer's first double-double.
Kareem Maddox's potential game-winner from just inside half court did not reach the rim as time ran out.
Davis added 23 in defeat but no other Tiger managed more than five.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Mack Darrow & Dan Mavraides:
Returning to the floor of the JMU Convocation Center less than 24 hours after seeing a 20 point lead against James Madison evaporate, Princeton found themselves in a somewhat similar situation versus Bucknell during the second day of their College Basketball Experience subregional.
Holding a 52-39 lead on Douglas Davis' third three point shot of the afternoon, the Bison responded with 11 straight to creep within two at the 4:33 mark.
Fueled by Kareem Maddox in the post at both ends of the arena and supported by sophomore center Mack Darrow's two free throws and critical three point shot in the game's final 78 seconds, the Tigers were able to close out their second victory of the 2010-11 campaign.
Mavraides and Davis each had 16 for the Tigers. Darrow added career bests of 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Asked about an opportunity to atone so soon after a disappointing loss, Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson relished that another contest followed right around the bend without time to dwell.
"It is the best thing from a players' standpoint and also from a coaching standpoint. You want to get back out there," Johnson said. "I was happy with how they bounced back from a tough loss last night."
Bucknell's G.W. Boon led the Bison with 17 points in 26 minutes.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Douglas Davis & Dan Mavraides:
Inherently, not being able to hold a 20 point lead against a quality opponent on their home court is frustrating.
In addition to those inherent frustrations connected to what transpired there will be four separate elements of Princeton's 65-64 loss at James Madison that will gnaw in the gut of any Tiger fan between now and tomorrow afternoon's game against Bucknell.
1. You didn't see it coming.
Often, a team will be able to build a lead despite reverting to bad habits because the ball continues to find its way into the basket. Up 45-25 in the first half, the Tigers were marvelous on offense, sharing the basketball beautifully and ending almost every possession with an open shot in rhythm. It was not occurring too easily either, as can sometimes be the case. Princeton made good decisions and rewarded players in the right positions.
2. They were still where they wanted to be when they wanted to be.
After being on the wrong end of a 28-5 run and going the first 10 minutes of the second half without a basket, Princeton somehow sat in a position to win. While the Tigers fell behind by as many four in the final four minutes, Kareem Maddox's one-handed offensive rebound of a missed Ian Hummer free throw and incredible one-handed rifle pass down the baseline to Douglas Davis setting up in the far left corner actually put Princeton back in front by one with :47 left in regulation. It was the third of Princeton's three second half field goals and their only made jumper in the second half.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Dan Mavraides & Ian Hummer:
On December 31, 1968 Princeton allowed 103 on the scoreboard in a 27 point loss at Madison Square Garden to North Carolina.
It took almost 42 years for another team from the Research Triangle to nearly match that gaudy total.
The Tigers kept it close for 18 minutes against the defending national champions, trailing 34-28 on T.J. Bray's first career three point shot with 1:55 on the clock but from that point onward is was all Blue Devils.
"I was really happy with the effort for the most part on the defensive end in the first half but we were a little bit too careless with the ball," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. ""When you give a great team like this extra opportunities, they shot the lights out."
Shooting 67% from the field and 8-11 from behind the arc in the second half after closing the opening frame on an 8-0 run, Duke built a lead as sizable as 95-55 before Bobby Foley's three pointer at the horn set the final margin.
Dan Mavraides scored 16 and Ian Hummer added 14 for Princeton.
Nolan Smith's 22 led five Duke players in double digits.
The Tigers committed 27 turnovers, the most since last season's terrible Army game. Kareem Maddox had seven of these giveaways.
It was the largest margin of victory for a Princeton opponent since a 79-41 loss to Seton Hall in Joe Scott's final season as the Tigers' head coach.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Dan Mavraides & Ian Hummer:
If tonight's opener for the 2010-11 Princeton basketball season is a microcosm of what is to come over the next 29 games, it is going to be a wild ride.
There were so many ups and downs, questions raised and questions answered alongside near-simultaneous thrills and frustrations that the game between Rutgers and Princeton at Jadwin Gym needed five extra minutes after regulation concluded to try and fit them all in.
The Tigers raced to a 14 point first half lead, matched last season's point total against the Scarlet Knights by the break (44) but were eventually passed by Rutgers with less than seven minutes to go as the Scarlet Knights extended their defense on the wings before rallying to force overtime and holding on for the five point victory with 8-8 OT shooting at the free throw line.
It was as exhausting as the above run-on sentence implies.
"I thought that there was a lot of guts there," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. "I was pleasantly surprised."
Drama and pathos aside, the end result was the Tigers' first victory over a "Big Six" school since 2004.
Led by a career high 26 points and seven rebounds from senior guard Dan Mavraides and 17 points on 8-10 shooting from Ian Hummer, the Tigers won their curtain raiser for the third time in four seasons under Sydney Johnson.
While Mavraides' six three pointers were appreciated by his coach, other elements stood out. "I think Dan brings a lot more than shooting to our team," remarked Johnson. "Obviously when he shoots and the ball goes in it makes things that much easier. My challenge to him is: "What if your shot is not going down? Can you lead us?' I felt like there were hustle plays there, there was leadership there that doesn't show up in the box score and I want to see that every night."
James Beatty had 15 for Rutgers, one of four Scarlet Knights in double digits.
Princeton's 78 points were the most by a Tiger team against Rutgers since a 79-70 decision in 1995.
A day after their four point loss to CCRI, the Mercer Vikings (0-1) were back home Sunday for the second afternoon of the Mercer/Burlington Classic against the Suffolk N.Y. Clippers.
Flat on defense and repeatedly missing open three point shots from the same space on the far right side of the Suffolk zone, the Vikings found themselves in an early 15-4 hole.
"I don't mind them taking the right threes but I think the threes tend to go in after some more ball movement," said Mercer County C.C. head coach Howie Levy. "They were open but the weren't necessarily the greatest shots - that's part of the learning process to know you're always going to get that shot, let's see if we can do a bit better."
While backing up my laptop, I found this eight minute one-on-one interview from January 2004 with Will Venable hiding on my external hard drive. This recording has not been previously posted on the site.
If I remember correctly, Princeton coach John Thompson III suggested that instead of our regularly-scheduled weekly interview for WPRB's "The John Thompson Show," I instead talk with the junior guard from Marin, CA.
Several of Venable's answers are prescient, as six of the Tigers' 13 Ivy League victories that season were decided either in overtime or by fewer than five points.
An offensive rebound and reverse layup to begin a three point play by Venable with three seconds left during Princeton's second conference game 10 days after we talked gave the Tigers a 49-47 win at Yale and a 2-0 start in league play. Amazingly, the bucket was Venable's only field goal attempt of the game despite playing 37 minutes.
Venable, the team's second-leading scorer (10.3 ppg) and rebounder (4.9) in 2003-04, recording a team-best 81 steals as he consistently locked down the opposition's top scoring threat.
Princeton finished the season 20-8, 13-1 in the Ivy League. The Tigers fell to Texas in the NCAA Tournament as Venable scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the loss.
I had the opportunity to talk with Chris Young and Will Venable at Citizen's Bank Park before tonight's Padres/Phillies game. While there have been numerous interviews published with one or the other over their respective professional careers, this is the first time I can remember Young and Venable interviewed as a pair.
They discuss their shared experiences, answered what type of teammate the other is, recalled when they first met, riffed off each other a fair bit, told me about the former Princeton basketball players who have visited them this weekend and answered a wide-ranging assortment of questions over 14:00+ while sitting in the surprisingly windy San Diego dugout.
Stephen Goldsmith is with me currently in Philadelphia and he'll have some photos from our trip up tomorrow.
While this anecdote has drawn repeated attention on talk shows, in print interviews and is the focus of many reviews, this moment is just a small part of Robinson's worthwhile biography, which begins in 1960s Chicago and concludes in contemporary Corvallis, Oregon.
It would have been easy for Robinson to capitalize on his unexpected fame and write primarily about his brother in law but "A Game of Character" is a book that instead tells the complete story of Robinson's life long before he became "Michelle Obama's big brother."
The tales of growing up under the watchful eye of Marian and Fraser Robinson have a distinct charm, but it is the time spent at Princeton playing for Pete Carril that should be especially worthwhile to visitors of this site. The two time Ivy League Player of the Year is the first former Tiger I can recall who has written in detail about what it was like to play for Carril, and the highs and lows of that experience shape Robinson as he first sets into the financial world and then returns to basketball as an assistant coach at Northwestern.
This morning I had a chance to speak with Coach Robinson about his story, his time at Princeton and his life since the release of this book. Robinson joined me by phone for over 32 minutes and I think you will find this wide-spanning discussion a worthwhile one that bypasses the questions Robinson has already answered ad nauseum.
Postgame audio - Marcus Schroeder, Nick Lake, Zach Finley & Pawel Buczak:
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson:
The final buzzer sounded for the last time on Princeton’s class of 2010 and the Tigers lined up to shake hands with the victorious Saint Louis Billikens, 69-59 winners in the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational.
As the two teams dispersed to opposite sides of Chaifetz Arena, one by one Princeton players walked off the floor.
Eventually just a lone Tiger remained on the court.
Senior co-captain Marcus Schroeder, shuffling his feet with his head down while he fought of tears.
As Schroeder reached the edge of the hardwood, hesitant to step into the shadows, his coach stopped him for a second to rub his head and tell him how proud he was.
An instant later both Schroeder and Sydney Johnson were gone, and with them the last memory of a 2009-10 season that both will someday look back on fondly.
“It is tough for all of us losing our last game,” Schroeder said a few minutes after this moment. “I think I speak for all of us seniors that we’ve very proud of what we’ve gone through here. To have a season like this with 22 wins is pretty remarkable.”
The Billikens’ Kwamain Mitchell kept Princeton from adding to their victory total, scoring 17 of his game high 21 points in the first half.
“We tried to stop him in as many ways as we could and it seemed like he found ways to score or if he wasn’t scoring he was dishing it off to someone and they were knocking down a three,” Schroeder said of Mitchell’s effort.
Big man Willie Reed added 20 and 10 rebounds for Saint Louis.
Kareem Maddox’s 16 off the bench paced the Tigers, with Douglas Davis adding 14 - six of those late as Princeton tried to extend the game with fouls.
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
