Awwwwwwwwww.
Maggie Crockett Solomon-Scheller at Jadwin Gym, 11.21.09.
Army 56 Princeton 52.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson:
Postgame audio - Dan Mavraides & Nick Lake:
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."
Ian Hummer, +18.
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.
First Half
21-20 IN
29-34 OUT (+6)
34-37 IN
39-43 OUT (+1)
Second Half
39-43 IN
46-53 OUT (+3)
Saturday News:
Today's Game: Army (1-1 / 0-0) vs. Princeton (2-0 / 0-0)
Location: Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ
Time: 2:00 pm ET
Radio: N/A
TV: N/A
Internet: goprincetontigers.com
Series History: Princeton leads 22-11.
Last meeting: Princeton 55 Army 43 - 11/23/08.
| Army | Princeton | |
| 1-0 | Home Record | 1-0 |
| 0-1 | Away Record | 1-0 |
| 296 | RPI | 2 |
| 291 | Sagarin | 143 |
| 323 | Pomeroy | 106 |
| 74.5 | Points / Game | 66.1 |
| 74.5 | Points Allowed / Game | 61.0 |
| .474 | FG% | .483 |
| .667 | FT% | .756 |
| .314 | 3PT FG% | .444 |
| 37.5 | Rebounds / Game | 31.5 |
| 12.0 | Off. Rebounds / Game | 8.5 |
| +8.0 | Rebounding Margin | +3.5 |
| 14.0 | Assists / Game | 8.5 |
| 22.0 | Turnovers / Game | 13.5 |
| 4.0 | Blocks / Game | 3.0 |
| Simmons: 14.0 | Points | Finley, Mavraides: 14.5 |
| Hence: 8.0 | Rebounds | Finley: 5.0 |
| Richard: 4.5 | Assists | Schroeder: 2.5 |
| Nelson: 3.0 | Steals | Hummer: 1.5 |
| Nelson: 2.5 | Blocks | Finley, Buczak: 1.0 |
| Zastoupil: .800 | FG% | Schroeder: 1.000 |
| Simmons: 1.000 | FT% | Davis, Schroeder, Maddox: 1.000 |
| Simmons: .571 | 3PT FG% | Schroeder: 1.000 |
Georgetown vs. Savannah State - 1:00 pm ET
MCCC vs. Harcum - 2:00 pm ET
Sacramento State vs. Oregon State - 3:00 pm ET
Dartmouth vs. Furman - 7:00 pm ET
Delaware vs. Penn - 7:00 pm ET
Quinnipiac vs. Yale - 7:00 pm ET
Rush The Court checks in on the Ivy League.
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.
Friday News:
Brown vs. St. John's - 7:00 pm ET - Philly Hoop Group Classic
Longwood vs. Columbia - 7:00 pm ET
Seton Hall vs. Cornell - 7:00 pm ET - SNY
Bryant vs. Harvard - 7:00 pm ET
The Daily Princetonian previews this weekend's game against Army.
Richmond (2-1) was tripped up at William & Mary, 78-71.
A second straight victory for Denver (2-1), a physical 56-49 decision over Montana.
One of Rivals' Top 100 players in the country, guard JerShon Cobb, officially signed his National Letter of Intent with Northwestern.
Andy Katz writes about the tough non-conference schedule Georgetown is playing.
Coach Sydney Johnson - 11/19/09.
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 14:00+ in length.
Following a successful 2-0 start to open 2009-10 with wins over Central Michigan and Manhattan, Johnson and Solomon reviewed both games in detail, discussed the success Princeton has had inside by playing both Zach Finley and Pawel Buczak at the same time, talked about the team's ability to get to the free throw line often so far this season and previewed this weekend's home game versus Army.
Syn Tai e Epi Tai.
When reviewing photos from the Central Michigan game, I noticed something new on the inside of Dan Mavraides' left biceps. It was impossible to make out clearly, but I was pretty confident that it was a tattoo.
After last night's Manhattan game, I had a chance to ask Mavraides about what I saw.
The answer? It is a tattoo (enlarged in the above photo) in Greek of a Spartan quote, paying tribute to Mavraides' Spartan heritage.
It reads Syn Tai e Epi Tai, loosely translated to English as "with it or on it."
If you want to read more about this phrase, its meaning and its origins, see this 2002 column from "The Straight Dope."
Thursday News:
MCCC vs. FIT - 7:00 pm ET
Richmond vs. William & Mary - 7:00 pm ET
Montana vs. Denver - 9:00 pm ET - FSN Rocky Mountain
In addition to our recap you can read about the Tigers' comeback last night against Manhattan on goprincetontigers.com, in the Trentonian, in the Trenton Times, in the Daily Princetonian and on gojaspers.com.
Undermanned Northwestern (1-1) was no match for Butler.
Princeton recruit T.J. Bray talks about his decision to become a Tiger.
Richmond travels to William & Mary for their first road game of the season.
Denver plays host to Montana tonight.
Around the Ivy League: Cornell (2-0) defeated UMass 74-61 in the first night of the Legends Classic. Rhode Island pulled away from Brown (1-2) in the second half, 78-57.
Princeton 61 Manhattan 54.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson:
Postgame audio - Dan Mavraides, Ian Hummer & Zach Finley:
Three quarters of the way through Princeton’s home opener against Manhattan, it looked like the story was going to be the potential points the Tigers left just short of the rim or a fraction off the glass. Stuck searching for a foothold after falling into an early 18-6 hole, Princeton repeatedly teased taking control of the game, yet point blank misfires left them down with time rolling off the clock.
The Jaspers were holding a 50-43 lead when the plot changed. With less than seven minutes to go, Darryl Crawford, who led Manhattan with 14 points and 10 rebounds, sped down the baseline unobstructed and reversed the ball in off the glass.
It was the type of deficit and the sort of situation that Princeton will face when the calendar flips to February but this early season test of the Tigers’ mettle saw Princeton go on a narrative-altering 16-2 run that helped the Tigers improve to 2-0 for the second time in three seasons.
Zach Finley, continuing to put last year’s frustrating junior campaign behind him as he now plays confidently alongside instead of behind fellow senior center Pawel Buczak, had 16 points, going 8-10 at the free throw line. Dan Mavraides and Buczak added 13 and 11 points respectively to aid the comeback.
Mavraides’ catch-and-shoot right angle three off a pass from Marcus Schroeder with 3:26 to go gave the Tigers their final lead and Princeton would close the book on Manhattan from the free throw line, a perfect 8-8 from the stripe. “Schroeder lined up the laces nicely for me,” said Mavraides of the shot.
Wednesday News:
Today's Game: Manhattan (1-0 / 0-0) vs. Princeton (1-0 / 0-0)
Location: Jadwin Gym - Princeton, NJ
Time: 7:00 pm ET
Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB
TV: N/A
Internet: goprincetontigers.com
Series History: Princeton leads 15-3.
Last meeting: Manhattan 70 Princeton 60 - 12/14/08.
| Manhattan | Princeton | |
| 1-0 | Home Record | 0-0 |
| 0-0 | Away Record | 1-0 |
| 196 | RPI | 206 |
| 191 | Sagarin | 264 |
| 98 | Pomeroy | 115 |
| 70.0 | Points / Game | 71.0 |
| 58.0 | Points Allowed / Game | 68.0 |
| .483 | FG% | .585 |
| .389 | FT% | .750 |
| .417 | 3PT FG% | .571 |
| 40.0 | Rebounds / Game | 27.0 |
| 15.0 | Off. Rebounds / Game | 8.0 |
| +2.0 | Rebounding Margin | +1.0 |
| 9.0 | Assists / Game | 8.0 |
| 14.0 | Turnovers / Game | 14.0 |
| 3.0 | Blocks / Game | 4.0 |
| Crawford: 17.0 | Points | Davis: 16.0 |
| Crawford: 9.0 | Rebounds | Lake: 6.0 |
| Crawford: 4.0 | Assists | Schroeder: 3.0 |
| Crawford, Pearson: 2.0 | Steals | Hummer: 2.0 |
| Gabriel: 3.0 | Blocks | Barrett, Davis, Finley, Buczak: 1.0 |
| Gabriel: .667 | FG% | Schroeder, Barrett: 1.000 |
| Jolicoeur: .750 | FT% | Davis: 1.000 |
| Walsh: .600 | 3PT FG% | Schroeder: 1.000 |
Butler vs. Northwestern - 8:00 pm ET - Big Ten Network
Rhode Island vs. Brown - 7:00 pm ET
Cornell vs. UMass - 7:30 pm ET - Legends Classic
Douglas Davis is the centerpiece of a well-executed article about how Princeton is looking to show they learned lessons from certain losses last season.
It wasn't pretty but a Greg Monroe layup with six seconds left gave Georgetown (2-0) a 46-45 win over Temple - the first time in 69 games that the Owls lost when they held their opponent under 50 points.
Soft Pretzel Logic has postgame audio from John Thompson III, Chris Wright and Greg Monroe.
Northwestern hosts Butler in Evanston. Jon Greenberg from ESPNChicago.com talks to Bill Carmody, trying to figure out if the Wildcats are cursed.
Forward Devon Collier officially signed his National Letter of Intent with Oregon State.
Around the Ivy League: Yale (1-2) defeated Colgate 65-55 in the second day of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Columbia (0-1) missed a shot to tie in the final minute at DePaul, falling 59-53.
