Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Patrick Saunders, Douglas Davis & Dan Mavraides:
Princeton had sunk to a woeful 38.5% shooting percentage for the season after yet another cold half to start Sunday’s early evening game against Lafayette.
The second twenty minutes were another story - the Tigers’ best performance from the floor (and most points in a half) since the start of the opener against Central Michigan.
Converting 62.5% of their shots, and eight of 12 three pointers, Princeton reversed an early five point second half hole and pulled away from the Leopards for the 62-48 win.
Douglas Davis hit seven times from outside for 23 points, his second straight 20+ point effort. Davis’ seven threes were the most for a Princeton player since Noah Savage connected on seven occasions against Brown in a February 2008 overtime loss.
"These guys should be proud of themselves," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson following the end of his team's four game losing streak. "The guts that they showed over these last two games during a tough stretch - to respond how they did against Rutgers and Lafayette, I have nothing but praise."
Patrick Saunders matched a career high with 15 and Dan Mavraides got back on track with 13.
Jared Mintz was Lafayette’s lone double figure representative, scoring 17.
Frederick vs. MCCC - 12:00 pm ET
American vs. Georgetown - 4:00 pm ET
Denver vs. Colorado State - 9:00 pm ET
Columbia vs. Stony Brook - 2:00 pm ET
Brown vs. Minnesota - 3:30 pm ET
The Star Ledger offers up a few more notes from the Princeton/Rutgers game.
Here's a photo gallery of Princeton's trip to George Washington.
Oregon State (3-3) won the Pac-10's first game in the Hardwood Challenge, coming back on Colorado in the final minute for a five point victory.
Mercer and Georgetown play today at the Verizon Center in DC. We'll be driving down shortly to cover both, with postgame audio and Stephen Goldsmith's photo essays coming later this evening. Updates all Saturday on our Twitter feed.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson & Douglas Davis:
The last seven times Princeton and Rutgers have faced off, the losing team has failed to exceed 50 points.
These seven games have been laggard, leaden affairs with both squads struggling to find the bottom of the basket.
Thursday night's game at the RAC added another torpid installment to a 116 game rivalry, one that both head coaches called "beautiful" afterwards.
But it was Rutgers’ Fred Hill who liked how the somnolent 54-44 decision played out more than Tigers head man Sydney Johnson.
Gregory Echenique had a career-high 21 points and 11 rebounds as he and and Hamady Ndiaye bullied Princeton inside, sending the Tigers to their fourth straight defeat.
Douglas Davis attacked the rim repeatedly and scored a season high 20 for Princeton, but no other Tiger tallied more than five.
"If you can grind it out, you can win one, and that's what Rutgers did," said Johnson - who fell to 0-3 coaching versus the Scarlet Knights.
Today's Game:Princeton (2-3 / 0-0) vs. Rutgers (3-2 / 0-0) Location: Louis Brown Athletic Center - Piscataway, NJ Time: 7:30 pm ET Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB TV: N/A Internet: goprincetontigers.com Series History: Princeton leads 72-43. Last meeting:Rutgers 49 Princeton 44 - 12/10/08.
Princeton
Rutgers
1-1
Home Record
2-1
1-2
Away Record
0-0
0-0
Neutral Record
1-1
119
RPI
242
226
Sagarin
179
180
Pomeroy
277
58.8
Points / Game
68.8
64.8
Points Allowed / Game
69.6
.413
FG%
.472
.780
FT%
.596
.323
3PT FG%
.333
27.6
Rebounds / Game
35.0
7.2
Off. Rebounds / Game
10.8
-4.6
Rebounding Margin
-3.6
10.4
Assists / Game
13.6
15.8
Turnovers / Game
15.0
3.0
Blocks / Game
7.8
Mavraides: 11.2
Points
Rosario: 17.6
Schroeder: 3.6
Rebounds
Echenique: 7.0
Schroeder: 2.4
Assists
Coburn: 4.6
Barrett: 1.4
Steals
Rosario: 1.2
Hummer: 1.0
Blocks
Ndiaye: 4.4
Saunders: .611
FG% (Min: 10 FGM)
Miller: .688
Davis: 1.000
FT% (Min: 10 FTM)
Mitchell: .917
Saunders: .500
3PT FG% (Min: 5 3PTM)
Rosario: .375
Lehigh vs. Columbia - 7:00 pm ET
The Home News Tribune previews tonight's game, implying that it might be the last Princeton/Rutgers game for a while. Here's text of the full interview with Sydney Johnson that Jerry Carino conducted for his piece.
Richmond (7-1) stayed perfect at home with a 67-60 win over ODU.
Time for this week's Schuylkill 16. Princeton is in 11th place on this list of area teams.
Around the Ivy League: Cornell (6-2) got 28 points and 18 boards from Jeff Foote, survived a three point shot at the end of regulation and defeated Bucknell 104-98 in overtime. Michael Sands' dunk with two seconds left provided Yale (3-5) with their margin of victory in a 48-46 decision at Hartford. Harvard (6-1) is off to their best start in 25 years, running past Rice, 85-64. Behind 19 points from Robby Pride, Brown (4-5) surrendered the last eight points of regulation and lost to Holy Cross in OT by six.
Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon met at Jadwin Gym this afternoon to record their weekly interview. Audio from this Q&A runs 15:00+ in length.
Johnson and Solomon discuss varied topics - from Princeton's three game losing streak to Army's successful gameplan, the importance of a healthy Patrick Saunders, the team's perimeter defense and the recent struggles of the Tigers' centers. They also preview this week's games against Rutgers and Lafayette.
Since today is "Cyber Monday," a reminder that if you click on any of the Amazon links on our site as your entry point to amazon.com, we get a commission on everything you order, no matter what it is. Unsure of what to buy? Check out our Holiday Gift Guide to start your shopping!
On to the news...
Mount Saint Mary vs. Georgetown - 7:30 pm ET - MASN
Georgetown looks for its fifth straight against Mount Saint Mary.
You can now follow Mercer County Community College basketball on Twitter.
Around the Ivy League: Harvard (5-1) closed on an 18-6 run and won at Boston University for the first time since 1975. Cornell (5-2) finished Legends Classic play undefeated with a 61-54 win versus Drexel.
Going 7:30 without a field goal makes it hard to win basketball games. Against the #23 team in the nation, in their home gym, it becomes next to impossible.
Princeton struggled to start Sunday afternoon’s tilt versus Cal and found themselves in an early 20-5 hole, recording just one basket before the 10:25 mark of the opening frame. The Tigers never recovered, falling 81-60 at Haas Pavilion.
The Bears’ leading scorer, point guard Jerome "Bulldog" Randle, proved extremely difficult to guard, as he tore up the Tiger defense for 22 points on 6-10 shooting while handing out nine assists. Forward Jamal Boykin also had 22 for Cal on a variety of midrange jump shots, matching his career high.
"[It was] a pretty straight-forward game," said Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson. "We knew what we were getting ourselves into and knew that we had to be very good in terms of execution and we weren't and I think that's as much as anything, the deficit."
Three Princeton players hit double figures. Freshman forward Ian Hummer made his first five shots and scored a career best 13 off the bench. Douglas Davis had a dozen. Patrick Saunders added 14, 11 over a three minute stretch of the second half.
Cal controlled the glass, out-rebounding Princeton 37-20. The Tigers’ first offensive rebound came with four minutes left to play.
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
