Princeton heads to Cambridge on Friday evening, where they will face Harvard guard Jeremy Lin (seen above battling Kyle Koncz for a loose ball) for the seventh time.
Lin has put up big numbers - in the Top 200 in Percentage of Possessions Used, Effective FG%, True Shooting %, Assist Rate, Steal Percentage, Fouls Drawn/40 and FT Rate/40 - and received a lot of attention from opposing defenses and national media his senior season, one of the primary reasons the Crimson have gone 14-4 this year.
But how has Lin faired against the Tigers the first six times he's played Princeton?
Min Pts FG FT 3FG Rebs A S B TO PF 2006-07 19 2 1-3 0-0 0-0 1-1-2 0 1 0 1 4 74-68 P (2OT) 21 4 0-2 4-4 0-1 0-2-2 1 0 0 0 1 50-43 H Min Pts FG FT 3FG Rebs A S B TO PF 2007-08 32 17 5-9 6-9 1-3 1-8-9 4 1 1 4 4 68-54 P 41 20 9-15 2-4 0-2 1-6-7 3 2 2 1 4 74-67 H (OT) Min Pts FG FT 3FG Rebs A S B TO PF 2008-09 39 27 9-15 9-12 0-3 0-6-6 4 0 0 3 2 77-71 P 36 13 5-13 2-4 1-2 0-5-5 0 0 2 4 1 58-55 P
The key to guarding Lin is to not bite on his deceptive ball to fakes and keep your feet moving laterally to cut off his drives. At Harvard last year, Lin made five straight jumpers - each more difficult than the previous shot. The long arms of Kareem Maddox were used to defend Lin after this display and Maddox was repeatedly commanded by the Princeton staff to keep his feet nailed to the floor.
At Jadwin the assignment was split between Jason Briggs and Nick Lake spelling Marcus Schroeder.
Lin leads the Ivy League in True Shooting Percentage (63.4%), Free Throws Made (94), Free Throws Attempted (124) and Steals Per Game (2.7). Lin is 13th nationally in that last category.
30.6% of his points come at the free throw line, good for third in the Ivies.
The Ivy League's third leading scorer (17.1 ppg) he's also third in Assists Per Game (4.3) and fourth in blocks (1.2).
Because so many possessions involve Lin (26.9%), it is not surprising that he's also tops in the conference in Turnovers Per Game (3.4), but Lin's TO% is 11th in the Ivy League (22.4%).
