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Princeton University Athletics
Cross Roads
December 22, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2000
Princeton vs. Holy Cross
The site Hart Center * Worcester, Mass.
The date Saturday, Dec. 23, 2000 *?1:00 p.m.
Radio/TV WHWH AM 1350, www.goprincetontigers.com/no TV
The records Princeton: 3-5, Holy Cross: 7-2
The coaches Princeton: John Thompson (first season, 3-5), Holy Cross: Ralph Willard (11th season, 161-144)
The series Princeton 3-1
Last meeting Princeton defeated Holy Cross 51-41 * Dec. 31, 1999
Strength of schedule -- Including Holy Cross, Princeton's first nine opponents are currently a combined 59-20.
More schedule -- None of Princeton's first nine opponents, including Holy Cross, currently has a losing record.
Still more schedule -- After playing Holy Cross, Princeton plays in the Holiday Festival Dec. 26-27. The other three teams in the event (Penn State, Rutgers, Hofstra) are currently a combined 19-5.
Last schedule -- Princeton ranks eighth in the Sagarin ratings in strength of schedule. Busy bodies -- Beginning with Holy Cross and including the Holiday Festival, Princeton plays three games in five days. After that, Princeton plays two games in the next 34 days.
Foul ball -- Princeton is being outscored by an average of 10.0 points per game at the foul line.
Role reversal -- Princeton has played five games this season against teams that it played last season. In four of those five games (Monmouth, Xavier, Rutgers, TCU), the team that won last year lost this year. Only Lafayette won both years.
Auld lang syne -- Princeton defeated Holy Cross 51-41 last New Year's Eve at Jadwin Gym.
Ouch -- Ahmed El-Nokali has played in the last three games after undergoing surgery in October to repair a tendon in his groin. Nate Walton is playing, despite suffering from chronic foot problems. Mike Bechtold is playing with a chipped bone in his foot.
Special K -- After scoring seven points and playing 49 minutes in the first seven games of the season, freshman center Konrad Wysocki scored 12 points (on 5 for 5 shooting) in 30 minutes against TCU.
More K -- Konrad Wysocki has nine offensive rebounds in 79 minutes, an average of one every 8.7 minutes. Every other player on the team combined has 36 offensive rebounds in 1,546 minutes, an average of one every 42.9 minutes.
Last K -- Konrad Wysocki leads Princeton in offensive rebounds despite being ninth in minutes played.
The glass menagerie -- Princeton's last three opponents combined for 48 offensive rebounds, Princeton has 20 in those three games.
Point person -- Mike Bechtold leads Princeton with a 14.5 points per game average. The next two highest-scoring Princeton players (C.J. Chapman, Nate Walton) combined average 16.9 points per game.
Stuff it -- Princeton has not had a player dunk in a game this season.
Patriot games -- Princeton is 3-3 in its last six games against Patriot League schools.
Inside, outside -- Princeton has made 76 three-point baskets and 80 two-point baskets.
More outside -- Princeton has attempted 210 three-point shots and 141 two-point shots.
It's cold outside -- Princeton is 12 for 41 (29.2%) from three-point range in its last two games.
More cold -- After averaging 11 three-pointers per game for its first six games, Princeton has 12 three-pointers in its last two games combined.
Ratio days -- Princeton has 114 assists and 114 turnovers. Princeton had 505 assists and 387 turnovers a year ago.
Turn, turn, turn -- Princeton is averaging 15.6 turnovers per game in its losses.
Get to the point -- Mike Bechtold has had at least 12 points in seven of eight games.
Long range thinking -- Mike Bechtold is the only Princeton player with at least one three-pointer in every game this season.
More long range -- Mike Bechtold has made at least four three-pointers four times in eight games and at least three three-pointers six times in eight games.
Still more long range -- C.J. Chapman has attempted 47 three-point shots and six two-points shots.
Swish -- Mike Bechtold was a 42.7% shooter from the field his first two years, he is shooting 53.4% from the field this year.
DQ'd -- Princeton has had a player foul out 11 times in the first eight games. Princeton had a player foul out 12 times in 30 games a year ago.
More DQ'd -- Nate Walton has fouled out of three of the seven games in which he's played this season.
Say Wente -- Kyle Wente has played 18 minutes in the last two games combined after averaging 25.5 minutes per game for the first six.
Size matters -- The average height of Princeton's starting five in the final game of last year was 6' 7". The average height of Princeton's starting five this season is 6' 4".
Moving up the charts -- C.J. Chapman has 107 career three-pointers, seventh-best all-time at Princeton. Chapman needs 35 to tie Chris Mooney for sixth.
Senior citizen -- Nate Walton has played with 35 different teammates during his time at Princeton.
Krug update -- Chris Krug has decided to take a leave of absence from the Princeton basketball team for personal reasons.
Where'd everybody go? -- Between Aug. 31 and the start of the season, Princeton basketball lost all of the following: Bill Carmody (head coach went to Northwestern, Spencer Gloger (three-point specialist transfered to UCLA), Chris Krug (projected starting center took leave of absence from team), Ray Robins (10.5 point-per-game starter took year off from school) and Chris Young (All-America center signed professional baseball contract and is ineligible for basketball under Ivy rules).
Bench mark -- Princeton's coaching staff of 1999-2000 featured three men who are now Division I head coaches: John Thompson (Princeton), Bill Carmody (now at Northwestern), Joe Scott (now at Air Force).
In case you didn't realize -- Chris Young, an honorable mention All-America last year, started every game the last two years. He was on pace to finish his career second in scoring at Princeton behind Bill Bradley, as well as first in blocked shots, second in assists and fourth in rebounds. Young, also an All-America in baseball as a pitcher (he led Division I with a 1.05 ERA last spring), was a third round pick of the Pirates.
A league of their own -- Princeton has won seven Ivy League championships in the last 12 years.
Triple play -- Princeton has made at least one three-pointer in every game since the rule was enacted for the 1986-87 season.