Ian Hummer’s career best 17 points on 9-11 shooting from the free throw line will stand out after an initial skim of the final box score following Princeton’s second straight win, a 65-50 victory over UNC Greensboro, but it was the steady, heady play of Marcus Schroeder that was essential to the Tigers’ success.
Schroeder scored five points, grabbed a team-best seven rebounds, handed out five assists and pocketed three steals in 36 minutes of play, all without a turnover.
"He's a helper," said Princeton coach Sydney Johnson about his senior co-captain. "That's kind of a term we use for him. He helps his teammates, he helps the team and its really showing up. We're just trying to bottle up the positive things that we're doing and hopefully carry them on to the next game."
The Tigers finished the first half on a 15-4 run to take a 35-22 lead at the break. Princeton built a early 16 point advantage in the opening moments of the second half, only to see their edge slowly widdled down to seven in the final six minutes.
Douglas Davis ended a Tiger drought with a bucket in traffic, bouncing a floater home after losing control in the lane and Hummer made both ends of consecutive one-and-one chances at the stripe to create some distance. 11 of Hummer’s points came in the final six minutes.
Princeton had a season high 19 assists on 25 baskets and turned the ball over a season low nine times while shooting an even 50% on the day.
"The guys really trusted themselves," Johnson said of his team's passing against the Spartans. "I think that's a product of that as much as anything."
Dan Mavraides added 13 points, 11 of which came in the first half.
Brandon Evans and Ben Stywall evenly split 28 for the Spartans in defeat.
Postgame audio - Coach John Thompson III, Austin Freeman & Greg Monroe:
It was a team effort that led Georgetown to a seven point victory over #22 Butler in the opening game of the 2009 Jimmy V Classic, but the stat line of sophomore center Greg Monroe couldn't avoid standing out.
Monroe's career highs of 24 points and 15 rebounds helped the Hoyas build an eight point halftime lead and generate a 52-35 advantage on a Hollis Thompson three point shot with 13:35 left in the game.
Behind Gordon Hayward's outside shooting and repeated drives into the paint that drew fouls, the Bulldogs were able to gradually cut the Georgetown lead down to as low as seven on four occasions late in the second half before the Hoyas created some distance at the free throw line. Hayward had 24 and eight in defeat.
Austin Freeman made his first four three point shots and finished with 18 for Georgetown.
The Hoyas passed their first real test, not just of the season, but of a week designed by head coach John Thompson III to mimic the difficulties of Big East play. This weekend Georgetown travels west to Anaheim to play Washington in their second straight meeting versus a Top 25 foe.
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.
Postgame audio - Coach John Thompson III, Chris Wright & Greg Monroe:
The faster, stronger and taller Georgetown men's basketball team did what faster, stronger and taller basketball teams are supposed to do when playing a depleted American squad that graduated five starters from last year's Patriot League NCAA tournament representatives.
Jumping passing lanes and swiping 10 steals, including a career-best five takeaways by sophomore guard Jason Clark.
Dominating the boards to a 43-32 count, with center Greg Monroe snatching a personal high of 13.
Shooting an even 50.0% from the floor (27-54) and holding the crosstown visitors to a 27.1% percentage (16-59) while blocking nine shots.
Shutting down American's leading scorer Stephen Lumpkins, who was a woeful 1-17 from the floor and missed his last 14 shots.
Back-to-back three pointers by Chris Wright and Austin Freeman eight minutes in gave Georgetown a lead they would not relinquish. Three straight steals by Clark, two of which resulted in breakaway dunks took the lead up to 10 and the Hoyas would extend that advantage to as many as 31 on two occasions in the second half.
It was the final tuneup for Georgetown (6-0) before the Hoyas go to Madison Square Garden and Anaheim's Honda Center this week to face two Top 25 foes - Butler and Washington.
"Georgetown was just too good," American head coach Jeff Jones plainly stated following his team's eighth loss of the season.
Postgame audio - Coach Howie Levy (with an unexpected cameo from John Thompson III):
Early in the second half of Mercer County Community College's visit to the Verizon Center, a switch flipped.
Trailing 51-26 after falling behind by 20 at the break, the Vikings began to believe in the validity of their man offense sets, and pulled off an incredible comeback that would eventually knot the score with 2:15 to go at 70.
"The effort, the energy, the enthusiasm. I told them afterwards it was the first time that they acted like a team and played like a team," said Mercer coach Howie Levy. "It was nice to watch."
While MCCC was unable to get over that final hurdle, falling by six at the free throw line, it was a rally that appeared to unify the team behind their coach's vision.
"We just had to make a couple more foul shots and a couple more layups," said Levy wistfully after his team's surge came up short.
Photos from today's game courtesy of Stephen Goldsmith.
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.
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.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Patrick Saunders & Marcus Schroeder:
Sometimes a several hundred word recap attempting to summarize a basketball game isn't nearly as effective as a single quote from a postgame press conference.
Asked about how his team played against George Washington in comparison to the Tigers' effort against Army on Saturday afternoon, Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson described the night perfectly.
"There was an effort there. There was some passion. We competed. We didn't quite shoot the ball the way we wanted to. We didn't close out some things defensively. [We] showed some caring, which was not quite evident the last time out," Johnson said.
That statement told you everything you needed to know about Princeton's 65-50 loss to the Colonials. The Tigers played much better at GW than they did in their previous game versus the Black Knights, but the result was the same.
George Washington hit three times from outside during a late 15-2 run that turned a five point Colonial lead with under six minutes to play into a 64-46 advantage. Freshman Bryan Bynes’ back-to-back triples extended the GW lead to 18 and sent Princeton home with their second straight loss.
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."
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.
When I spoke with Coach Sydney Johnson on Thursday afternoon, he told me that he wanted his Princeton team to be in the position to win the first game of the year coming out of the final media time out at Central Michigan.
The Tigers went into that stoppage with their nine point edge filed to two this afternoon at the Rose Center in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan and responded when the Chippewas took their first lead since the first half.
"We were trying to settle in emotionally and I think we did an excellent job," said Tiger head coach Sydney Johnson. "Last year we might not have responded the same way."
Douglas Davis scored an up-and-under banker with less than thirty seconds to play to put the Tigers back up one and then made two free throws after blocking the attempt to tie by Central Michigan’s Robbie Harman to help Princeton to a season-opening 71-68 victory.
"He showed a lot of guts," Johnson said about Davis' afternoon. "We want him to continue to be good offensively, but getting that block and making hustle plays, that's really forward progress for him."
Davis and junior Dan Mavraides each totaled 16 points for the Tigers and Zach Finley added 13.
Finley was Princeton’s starting center to open the year, with fellow senior Pawel Buczak sliding to forward. It was an unexpected personnel decision, but one that created some interior advantages for Princeton.
Harman had a game-best 22 points on 6-11 shooting from the perimeter to pace the Chippewas.
Mercer County Community College (1-0) used a 19-2 run in the second half to open a tense season opener against the #9 ranked (NJCAA DII) Community College of Rhode Island, pulling away from a foe that defeated them twice last season.
Trailing 44-41 with 11 minutes to go, the Vikings hit three straight times from behind the arc on offense and freshman forward Gary Carthan absorbed consecutive charges on defense to create some distance from the visiting Knights.
Mercer plays against Community College of Philadelphia tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 pm ET in the second day of the school's MCCC Men's Classic.
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
