Around the Ivy League: Cornell (3-9) was 15-21 from three point range in a 86-80 victory over Wofford. Columbia (7-4) won 74-71 at Maine. Bucknell recorded its third triumph against an Ivy foe, knocking off Dartmouth (4-8) by 17.
After Princeton held on to defeat Northeastern 65-63 on Wednesday night in the first round of the UCF Holiday Classic, Tiger head coach Sydney Johnson allowed himself to consider the opportunity that his team now had against Central Florida.
Johnson understood first-hand that if you decide to play basketball at Princeton, the opportunity to knock off a Top 25 team on their home floor will come, but these chances rarely occur more than ten times across your four seasons.
"We played another ranked team earlier this year and that didn't turn out well," Johnson said, referencing the Tigers' 97-60 loss at Duke in mid-November. "So we have to prove a lot to ourselves."
The difference between a signature victory over a 12-0 foe and a close loss in the final game of 2010 came down to the final four minutes.
"They just probably made one or two more plays than we did," considered Johnson. "Offensive rebounds killed us."
The Tigers are introduced at the UCF Arena. Thankfully Jimmy Sherburne didn't knock over Brendan Connolly with a pre-game leaping hip check, like he did prior to Presbyterian.
Today's Game:Princeton (10-3 / 0-0) vs. Central Florida (12-0 / 0-0) Location: UCF Arena - Orlando, FL - UCF Holiday Classic Time: 7:30 pm ET Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB TV: N/A Internet: goprincetontigers.com Series History: This is the first meeting between the two schools. Last meeting: This is the first meeting between the two schools.
Princeton
UCF
3-0
Home Record
8-0
5-2
Away Record
2-0
2-1
Neutral Record
2-0
44
RPI
26
69
Sagarin
14
114
Pomeroy
37
71.7
Points / Game
77.8
68.4
Points Allowed / Game
56.2
.474
FG%
.506
.693
FT%
.680
.392
3PT FG%
.380
34.2
Rebounds / Game
37.9
9.6
Off. Rebounds / Game
9.8
+2.4
Rebounding Margin
+4.4
13.9
Assists / Game
14.8
13.8
Turnovers / Game
13.8
3.7
Blocks / Game
7.2
Hummer: 14.2
Points
Clanton: 16.8
Hummer: 6.8
Rebounds
Clanton: 8.8
Maddox: 2.6
Assists
Rompza: 4.0
Mavraides: 1.4
Steals
Rompza: 1.4
Maddox: 1.5
Blocks
Herzog: 2.9
Maddox: .581
FG% (Min: 10 FGM)
McCombs: .667
Mavraides: .780
FT% (Min: 10 FTM)
Jordan: .803
Saunders: .471
3PT FG% (Min: 10 3FGM)
Clanton .478
Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Denver - 9:00 pm ET
Arizona State vs. Oregon State - 10:30 pm ET
Cornell vs. Wofford - 5:00 pm ET - Holidays on the Hardwood Classic
Columbia vs. Maine - 7:00 pm ET
Dartmouth vs. Bucknell - 7:00 pm ET
So much for their shooting touch. Ice cold Georgetown (11-2) hit 35.7% of their first half attempts and could not rally from down 16 in the second half at Notre Dame.
SI's Andy Glockner has a piece on Harvard containing some choice quotes from Princeton coach Sydney Johnson.
Mid Atlantic Hoops considers Princeton recruit Bobby Garbade one of the region's Top 25 Senior Power Forwards.
Future Tiger Denton Koon had 17 points and 11 boards in Liberty's two point win over the Park Hill Trojans at the William Jewell Tournament.
Denver opens Sun Belt play at home versus Louisiana-Lafayette.
Arizona State visits Oregon State in the Pac-10 kickoff for both teams.
Could Will Venable lead off for San Diego next season?
Bishop John Barres is working on a DVD to promote the Knights of Columbus’ International Free Throw Championship.
Princeton's up to fourth place in this week's Schuylkill 16.
Around the Ivy League: A bad, near-dreadful day of action for Ancient 8 teams saw Cornell (2-9) drop their eighth straight, 68-66 to New Hampshire. Central Connecticut cruised to a 67-51 win over Brown (4-6) Penn (5-5) lost by nine at Marist, 66-57. Harvard (8-3) salvaged a 74-69 home win against Monmouth.
Postgame audio - Coach Sydney Johnson, Patrick Saunders & Kareem Maddox:
Joel Smith's layup rolled off the rim as time expired and Princeton survived their first night of the UCF Holiday Classic, 65-63 over Northeastern.
Smith's attempt skidded across the iron and nearly rallied the Huskies from down 10 with 80 seconds remaining, as the Tigers turned the ball over twice in the backcourt and made just two of four free throws trying to close out their 10th victory of the season.
After a first half where Princeton's biggest lead was two and Northeastern's largest advantage four, the Tigers' active defense sparked an 18-2 run that seemed to change the game. The second of two Kareem Maddox dunks capped this spurt with 9:59 to go.
However, Princeton's attention to detail waned after they went up 16 and Northeastern hung close enough to make an improbable last second push a possibility.
"I just think that we came to play," said head coach Sydney Johnson of his team's performance during a stretch where Northeastern went 7:16 between field goals. "There's a little bit of a spark in us. I'm disappointed, because I didn't think we did that the entire game. The came after us after that run and we didn't respond well. We've got to learn from that."
Today's Game:Princeton (9-3 / 0-0) vs. Northeastern (4-6 / 0-1) Location: UCF Arena - Orlando, FL - UCF Holiday Classic Time: 9:30 pm ET Radio: 103.3 fm WPRB TV: N/A Internet: goprincetontigers.com Series History: Northeastern leads 2-0. Last meeting: Northeastern 55 Princeton 34 - 12/28/83.
Princeton
Northeastern
3-0
Home Record
1-3
5-2
Away Record
1-2
1-1
Neutral Record
2-1
42
RPI
173
69
Sagarin
175
116
Pomeroy
171
72.2
Points / Game
66.0
68.8
Points Allowed / Game
70.1
.473
FG%
.425
.709
FT%
.692
.392
3PT FG%
.382
34.2
Rebounds / Game
30.2
9.8
Off. Rebounds / Game
10.1
+2.4
Rebounding Margin
-4.6
14.1
Assists / Game
12.9
13.7
Turnovers / Game
12.3
3.6
Blocks / Game
2.6
Hummer: 14.6
Points
Allen: 16.8
Hummer: 7.0
Rebounds
Allen: 5.8
Maddox: 2.8
Assists
Allen: 3.5
Davis: 1.3
Steals
Allen: 2.1
Maddox: 1.6
Blocks
Bates: 0.9
Hummer: .578
FG% (Min: 10 FGM)
Lee: .540
Mavraides: .815
FT% (Min: 10 FTM)
Smith: .818
Davis: .442
3PT FG% (Min: 10 3FGM)
Lee .571
Georgetown vs. Notre Dame - 7:00 pm ET - ESPN2
Wake Forest vs. Richmond - 7:00 pm ET
Cornell vs. New Hampshire - 5:00 pm ET - Holidays on the Hardwood Classic
Monmouth vs. Harvard - 7:00 pm ET
Brown vs. Central Connecticut St. - 7:00 pm ET
Penn vs. Marist - 7:30 pm ET
Hopefully flying to Florida just after sunrise. Today's news is scheduled to go live while we're in the air, so expect additional articles added to this post later today - JS
Ian Hummer is the focus of a piece from the Princeton Packet.
Princeton recruit Denton Koon had 13 points in Liberty's victory over St. Pius X.
It was an adventure for Richmond to get home from their Boxing Day matchup at Seton Hall.
Patrick Saunders represents Princeton on Honor Roll of the latest Ivy League Men's Basketball Weekly Release.
Since people seemed to really enjoy listening to them before Christmas, here's one more news story on princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon's marathon radio show, this from WHYY.
Tigers head coach Sydney Johnson and princetonbasketball.com editor Jon Solomon shoveled out their respective driveways and met at Jadwin Gym on Monday afternoon to go over Princeton's road victories at Wagner and Towson before Christmas. The pair also previewed the Tigers' trip to the UCF Holiday Classic later this week.
This Q&A is 10:00+ in length.
Interviews with Coach Johnson will appear on this site every week during the 2010-11 season.
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
