Princeton at N.C. State

March 15, 1999

Game Notes

        The site        Reynolds Coliseum * Raleigh, N.C.
        The date        Monday, March 15, 1999 * 7:35 p.m.
        The records     Princeton: 21-7
                	North Carolina State: 19-13
        The coaches     Princeton: Bill Carmody (third season, 72-13)
                	North Carolina State: Herb Sendek (sixth season, 116-69)
        The series      Princeton leads 4-1
        Last meeting    Princeton defeated North Carolina State 38-36 * Nov. 12, 1997
        The storyline   Princeton meets North Carolina State in the NIT second round

Probable Starters

NORTH CAROLINA STATE 21 Kenny Inge 11.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg So., 6-8, 220, Virginia Beach, Va. 24 Anthony Grundy 7.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg Fr., 6-3, 175, Louisville, Ky. 3 Damon Thornton 7.0 ppg, 6.4 rpg So., 6-8, 235, Norfolk, Va. 12 Justin Gainey 9.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg Jr., 6-0, 180, High Point, N.C. 23 Adam Harrington 11.7 ppg, 2.0 rpg Fr., 6-4, 180, Bernardston, Mass.

PRINCETON 32 Gabe Lewullis 15.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg Sr., 6-6, 210, Allentown, Pa. 45 Mason Rocca 7.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg Jr., 6-7, 225, Evanston, Ill. 55 Chris Young 12.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg Fr., 6-10, 235, Dallas, Texas 10 Brian Earl 15.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg Sr., 6-2, 180, Medford Lakes, N.J. 15 Ahmed El-Nokali 2.5 ppg, 1.6 rpg Fr., 6-4, 175, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Tonight's Note of the Night

Gimme five - Princeton used five players (Gabe Lewullis, Mason Rocca, Chris Young, Brian Earl, Ahmed El-Nokali) for 40 minutes each in the opening round win over Georgetown.

Five more notes no media person should be without

More five - The last time Princeton used five players in a game prior to the game against Georgetown was against Dartmouth in 1967.
March-ing on - Princeton is 3-1 in postseason first-round games since 1996 (2-1 in the NCAA tournament, 1-0 in the NIT). Princeton lost its second round game on both previous occasions, by a combined total of 29 points.
NIT-picking - Princeton has a five-game, 24-year NIT winning streak, having won four games en route to the 1975 championship and then the game against Georgetown.
Windex - Mason Rocca had 18 rebounds against Georgetown for the most rebounds in a game by a Princeton player since Bill Bradley had 21 against Columbia in 1965.
More Windex - Princeton was outrebounded by one against Georgetown, despite having been outrebounded by 495 by the Hoyas on the season. N.C. State has outrebounded Princeton 1,157-840 on the season, a difference of 317.

Others receiving votes

Still more Windex - Princeton has outrebounded its opponents 840-797. No Princeton team has outrebounded its opponents for a full season since 1967-68.
Your last note on the five-played-40-minutes stuff - Georgetown made 56 substitutions against Princeton, Princeton did not make any.
History lesson - Princeton is making the Ivy League's fourth appearance in the NIT. Princeton was in the tournament in 1972 and 1975, and Penn was in the tournament in 1981.
More history - Princeton is 6-1 all-time in the NIT.
We're honored - Princeton features the Ivy League Player of the Year (Brian Earl) and Ivy League Rookie of the Year (Chris Young).
More honors - Princeton features two first-team All-Ivy League selections (Brian Earl, Gabe Lewullis) and one second-team All-Ivy League selection (Chris Young).
For those just tuning in - Among the highlights of Princeton's season:
- Princeton rallied from a 40-13 deficit in the final 15 minutes to defeat Penn 50-49 on Feb. 9. It was the fourth-largest comeback in Division I history
- Princeton won the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii in December, defeating Florida State, Texas and UNC Charlotte on consecutive nights
- Princeton defeated Alabama-Birmingham 69-57 on UAB's home court
- Princeton won 11 straight games in midseason
Take me out to the ballgame - The win over Georgetown prevented Chris Young from leaving with Princeton's baseball team on its season-opening Florida trip, which began last weekend with a three-game series at No. 2 Miami. The 6' 10" Young, expected to be one of Princeton's top four pitchers, will join the team immediately after basketball, meaning he will leave for Florida after the N.C. State game should the Tigers lose.
Mason-ry - Mason Rocca made his first career start in the game against Georgetown.
Nice to see you again - Princeton played N.C. State in the championship game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic to start the 1997-98 season. Brian Earl scored 15 points, including the game-winning basket on a goaltending call with 2.7 seconds to play, to earn tournament MVP honors.
Young gun - Chris Young, the unanimous Ivy League Rookie of the Year, was a seven-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week.
More Young - Chris Young is the Princeton record holder for points in a season by a freshman (342).
Mad bomber - Brian Earl is the Ivy League's career leader in three-pointers made with 279.

Moving up the charts - Brian Earl is in fifth place on Princeton's career scoring list with 1,405 points, Gabe Lewullis is in ninth place on Princeton's career scoring list with 1,239 career points. The top nine:

        1. Bill Bradley 	2,503
        2. Kit Mueller  	1,546
        3. Pete Campbell        1,451
        4. Craig Robinson       1,441
        5. BRIAN EARL   	1,405
        6. Bob Scrabis  	1,365
        7. Geoff Petrie 	1,321
        8. Bud Haabestad        1,292
        9. GABE LEWULLIS        1,254

Just win, baby - Brian Earl has played in more winning basketball games than any other player in Princeton history (94).
Ah, Ahmed - Ahmed El-Nokali is 15 for 20 on two-point shots and 9 for 35 on three-point shots.
Swish - Brian Earl is shooting 88.1% from the foul line. He needs to go 7 for 7 to tie the school single-season record of 90%, set in 1967-68 by Joe Heiser.
More swish - When Brian Earl shot 7 for 9 from the foul line against Georgetown, it marked the first time this year that he had missed more than one foul shot in a game.
More swish - Chris Young is shooting 52% from the field. Princeton's starting center has shot at least 50% from the field every year but one since 1980-81 (Rick Hielscher, 1991-92).
Centers of attention - Princeton has used five starting centers since the first game of the 1987-88 season (Kit Mueller, Rick Hielscher, Jesse Rosenfeld, Steve Goodrich, Chris Young).
Stop, thief - Gabe Lewullis is sixth all-time at Princeton in steals with 140, Brian Earl is seventh with 137.
Can you spare a dime? - Brian Earl became the seventh Princeton player ever with 100 assists in a season in the game against Georgetown.
More dimes - Brian Earl is seventh all-time in assists at Princeton. He needs three to tie current Columbia
All-time greats - Brian Earl is fifth in scoring, first in three-pointers, seventh in assists and seventh in steals all-time at Princeton, Gabe Lewullis is 10th in scoring, third in three-pointers, ninth in assists and sixth in steals.
Minute man - Brian Earl has played every minute of a game 32 times, including last year against N.C. State.
More minutes - Brian Earl and Gabe Lewullis played every minute of all three Princeton overtime games.
Injury update - Nate Walton has missed all but five games this year after having foot surgery. C.J. Chapman is back after missing two games with a foot injury.
Block party - Chris Young is Princeton's single-season record-holder in blocked shots with 50.
More blocks - Chris Young is in 11th-place all-time at Princeton with 50 blocked shots. He trails current assistant coach Howard Levy by one for 10th place, and with 10 more blocked shots he would move into fifth.
Road warriors - Princeton has played 17 away games and 11 home games this season.
Showtime - Princeton had 34 dunks this year after having 27 the last three years combined.
20-something - Princeton has won at least 20 games in a season for four straight years for the first time in the program's history.
SportsCenter is next - Princeton is 5-1 on ESPN this year.
Aloha - Gabe Lewullis was the MVP of the Rainbow Classic.
Not to brag or anything - Princeton has wins over four teams that were in the NCAA tournament field: UNC Charlotte, Texas, Alabama-Birmingham and Penn.
Conference call - Bill Carmody is 3-3 against the ACC, having defeated N.C. State, Wake Forest and Florida State and lost to Maryland and North Carolina twice.

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