When Princeton faced Columbia senior sharpshooter K.J. Matsui over the past four years, they held him in check.
Matsui is a great shooter (40.9% from three point range for his career), a poor ballhandler and a bad defender, so the Tigers understood that if Matsui couldn't get the ball in his hands, he couldn't hurt them. Faceguarding him and chasing him around multiple screens, the Tigers took this weapon out of Columbia's arsenal.
Matsui had cracked double figures just once in seven games against Princeton (16 in an overtime loss to the Tigers the first time he played them), and beyond that had never hit more than three three point shots in a game when up against the orange and black. The ball wasn't in his hands enough to make a significant impact.
On Friday night at Levien Gym, seeing the Tigers for a final time, Matsui helped extinguish Princeton's slim hopes of an Ivy League championship with 17 points, including five shots from outside the arc on eight attempts.
Columbia's 58-44 victory eliminated Princeton in the race for the Ivy title.
Two quick curls for early Matsui triples helped the Lions to a 10-2 lead out of the gate and back-to-back shots by Matsui with under seven minutes to go turned a five point lead into an 11 point cushion.
"We weren't focused [on Matsui]," said a dismayed Princeton coach Sydney Johnson. "It is just too bad, because I felt like he is a player that we can limit, and he has been held in check in the past, but we just weren't focused enough to do it."
Douglas Davis scored 10 for the Tigers, eight in the first half.
Today's Game:Princeton (12-12 / 7-4) vs. Columbia (11-15 / 6-6) Location: Levien Gym - New York, NY Time: 7:00 pm ET Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB TV: N/A Internet: goprincetontigers.com Series History: Princeton leads 137-83. Last meeting:Princeton 63 Columbia 35 - 2/7/09.
Princeton
Columbia
8-6
Home Record
7-5
4-6
Away Record
3-9
0-0
Neutral Record
1-1
294
RPI
286
271
Sagarin
288
249
Pomeroy
279
58.6
Points / Game
60.8
57.1
Points Allowed / Game
63.3
.433
FG%
.405
.746
FT%
.666
.382
3PT FG%
.321
30.8
Rebounds / Game
34.4
7.7
Off. Rebounds / Game
11.0
11.3
Assists / Game
11.7
13.1
Turnovers / Game
14.4
3.1
Blocks / Game
2.1
Davis: 12.4
Points
Foley: 10.9
Finley: 4.4
Rebounds
Miller: 6.7
Schroeder: 3.0
Assists
Foley: 2.5
Mavraides: 1.2
Steals
Agho: 1.3
Saunders: 0.9
Blocks
Miller: 0.8
Buczak: .573
FG% (Min: 10 FGM)
Miller: .541
Maddox: .836
FT% (Min: 10 FTM)
Matsui: .929
Schroder: .548
3PT FG% (Min: 10 3PTM)
Scott: .439
Dartmouth vs. Yale - 7:00 pm ET
Harvard vs. Brown - 7:00 pm ET
Penn vs. Cornell - 7:00 pm ET
Oregon State (13-15) lost to UCLA, 79-54. Beavers head coach Craig Robinson will be on ESPN's Jim Rome Is Burning today.
Chris Mooney has signed a contract extension at Richmond.
Princeton recruit Will Barrett is profiled by phillyburbs.com.
A summary of the Mercer County Community College basketball season and an interview with Vikings coach Howie Levy, with pictures by princetonbasketball.com's own Stephen Goldsmith.
ESPN's Andy Katz writes about Northwestern's postseason chances.
Due to a lucky break flipping channels trying to find the Temple/St. Joe's game at home tonight, I was able to watch Princeton recruit Ian Hummer and Gonzaga play DeMatha for the WCAC Championship.
This was my second chance to see Hummer in action (you can read the other report from January 2009 here), and I've written up some detailed notes from tonight's game that you can read while watching video highlights after the jump.
Here's official word from the Ivy League on the various possibilities that could happen this week(end) in the sprint to the 2009 Ivy League championship. In the unlikely chance of a playoff/playoffs, we now know where it will all take place! - JS
PRINCETON, N.J. — Heading into the final full travel weekend, the Cornell men still sit in the driver's seat, but Princeton, Dartmouth and Yale all have a mathematical chance for a share of the regular season title.
In the event of any two-or-three-way tie at the conclusion of the regular season on Tuesday, the tied teams will be co-champions and a playoff will determine the League's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championships (the League has had seven men's playoffs, including one three-team playoff in 2002).
Here are the possible scenarios:
Cornell (9-3 Ivy) can win the Ivy title outright by beating Princeton (7-4) on Saturday night in its final game of the season, or by beating Penn on Friday night if Princeton loses at Columbia that night or to Penn in their regular-season finale on Tuesday, March 10.
Princeton can win the title outright if it sweeps all of its final three games and Cornell loses both of its final two games.
Cornell and Princeton would share the regular season title at 10-4, and meet in a one-game playoff, if:
- Cornell beats Penn on Friday night and loses to Princeton on Saturday, AND
- Princeton wins its final three games, at Columbia on Friday night, at Cornell on Saturday night and at Penn on Tuesday.
Cornell and either Dartmouth (7-5) OR Yale (7-5) would share the regular season title at 9-5, and meet in a one-game playoff, if:
- Cornell loses its final two games, AND
- The winner of Friday night’s Dartmouth-at-Yale game also wins on Saturday night (against Brown and Harvard, respectively), AND
- Princeton loses its games at Columbia on Friday night and Penn on Tuesday night.
Cornell, Princeton and either Dartmouth (7-5) OR Yale (7-5) all would share the regular season title (at 9-5), forcing a two-game playoff, if:
- Cornell loses to both Penn and Princeton this weekend AND
- Princeton beats Cornell on Saturday night, and loses to either Columbia on Friday night or Penn on Tuesday, AND
- Yale OR Dartmouth sweep their respective games this weekend.
The men’s playoff games will take place at Columbia's Levien Gymnasium in New York City.
A one-game playoff would be Saturday, March 14. A three-way, two-game playoff would take place Thursday, March 12 and Saturday, March 14, with the higher seed (best combined record vs. two other teams) receiving the bye to meet the winner of the first playoff game.
Not sure why this only showed up on-line now, two months after the fact, but here's the lehighsports.com postgame report after the Tigers defeated the Engineers at Jadwin on January 7th.
Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon met on Thursday morning at Jadwin Gym to discuss Princeton's wins over Brown and Yale in detail. The two also previewed 2008-09's final three regular season games, as the Tigers travel to Columbia, Cornell and Penn this week. The interview is 13:00+ in length.
The Wall Street Journal article discussed in the interview can be read here.
Interviews with Coach Johnson appear on this site every week during the season.
Oregon State vs. UCLA - 10:30 pm ET - FSN Prime Ticket
Princeton stands between Cornell and the NCAA tournament.
Sparked by some unexpected faces off the bench, Northwestern (17-11) won at #19 Purdue. The Wildcats have tied the school record for most regular-season victories.
Denver (15-15) advanced to the Sun Belt Tournament quarterfinals in Hot Springs with a nine point win over Louisiana-Monroe.
Oregon State visits #17 UCLA. Beavers coach Craig Robinson is already fielding questions about how long he will stay in Corvallis.
After Princeton's disappointing home loss to Dartmouth, in which the Tigers did not grab a single offensive rebound, I was desperate to know when the last time was that the orange and black went an entire game without a second chance on the glass.
After some thorough legwork and the help of Robbie Allen at StatSheet, I have the answer!
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
