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Princeton University Athletics
Garden Party
December 23, 2000 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 23, 2000
Princeton vs. Penn State
The site Madison Square Garden * New York, N.Y.
The date Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2000 *?6:30 p.m.
Radio/TV WHWH AM 1350, www.goprincetontigers.com/no TV
The records Princeton: 4-5, Penn State: 7-1
The coaches Princeton: John Thompson (first season, 4-5), Penn State: Jerry Dunn (sixth season, 89-68)
The series Penn State leads 6-3
Last meeting Penn State defeated Princeton 55-41 * March 15, 2000
Probable Princeton Starters F 23 Mike Bechtold (Jr., 6-6, 190, Lebanon, Pa.) 13.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg
F 21 Eugene Baah (Jr., 6-5, 195, New York, N.Y.) 3.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg
C 33 Nate Walton ( Sr., 6-7, 215, San Diego, Calif.) 8.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg
G 22 C.J. Chapman (Sr., 6-1, 170, Aurora, Colo.) 7.6 ppg, 2.0 rpg G 15 Ahmed El-Nokali ( Jr., 6-4, 175, Pittsburgh, Pa.) 8.3 ppg, 1.0 rpg
One and done -- Princeton shot 1 for 17 from three-point range in its 55-41 loss to Penn State in the opening round of last season's NIT. Spencer Gloger made the lone Princeton three-pointer.
Garden party -- Princeton won the 1997 ECAC Holiday Festival, defeating Drexel and Niagara, in its last trip to Madison Square Garden.
More Garden -- Princeton and Hofstra have combined to win the last three ECAC Holiday Festivals.
History lesson -- Princeton is making its sixth Holiday Festival appearance (1964, 1968, 1973, 1977, 1997, 2000).
Margin call -- The average margin of Princeton's four victories is 3.5 points. The average margin of Princeton's five defeats is 17.6 points.
Strength of schedule -- Including Penn State, Princeton's first 10 opponents are currently a combined 65-23.
More schedule -- Princeton ranks eighth in the Sagarin ratings in strength of schedule.
In case you missed it -- Princeton defeated Holy Cross 47-46 Saturday afternoon when Ahmed El-Nokali made both ends of a one-and-one with 15.5 seconds remaining.
Point, counterpoint -- Princeton has scored 50 points or fewer in five of its nine games, Princeton is 2-3 in those games.
More points -- Princeton has scored 45, 46 and 47 points in its last three games.
Comparison shopping -- Princeton averages 27.6 fewer points and 16.0 fewer rebounds per game than Penn State.
Busy bodies -- Princeton plays two games in two nights at the Holiday Festival. After that, Princeton plays two games in the following 34 days, with two separate 16-day breaks.
Foul ball -- Princeton has been outscored 150-60 at the foul line, an average of 10.0 points per game.
Ouch -- Ahmed El-Nokali has played in the last four 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.
Stuff it -- Princeton has not had a player dunk in a game this season.
Inside, outside -- Princeton has 92 two-point baskets and 82 three-point baskets.
Nothing's free -- Princeton has made 22 more three-pointers (82) than foul shots (60).
Can you spare a dime? -- Princeton center Nate Walton leads the team with 40 assists, as many as the next two players (C.J. Chapman, Ed Persia) combined.
The glass menagerie -- Princeton's last four opponents combined for 59 offensive rebounds, Princeton has 23 in those four games.
It's cold outside -- After combining for an average of 23 points and six three-pointers for the first eight games, Mike Bechtold and C.J. Chapman combined for two points and no three-pointers against Holy Cross.
Ah, Ahmed -- Ahmed El-Nokali has led Princeton in scoring twice in the four games he's played since returning from groin surgery this year. Prior to that, El-Nokali led Princeton in scoring once in the 58 games he played his first two seasons.
Swish -- Ahmed El-Nokali is shooting 64.7% (11 for 17) from the field.
Mad bomber -- Nate Walton has made at least one three-pointer in five straight games, the longest such streak of his career and the longest current streak of any Princeton player.
More bomber -- After missing his first nine three-point attempts of the season, Nate Walton has made seven of his last 13.
Good news ... -- After shooting 50.6% for his career from the foul line prior to this season, Nate Walton is shooting 83.3% this year.
... Bad news -- Nate Walton has been to the foul line six times (making five) in 272 minutes this season.
Minute man -- Nate Walton played all 40 minutes against Holy Cross, becoming the first Princeton player to play an entire game this season. Princeton had a player play the entire game 21 times a year ago and 31 times the year before that.
Special K -- After scoring seven points and playing 49 minutes in the first seven games of the season, freshman center Konrad Wysocki has 15 points and eight rebounds in 45 minutes in the last two games.
Go outside -- Princeton has attempted 223 three-point shots and 164 two-point shots.
Get inside -- After averaging 11 three-pointers per game for its first six games, Princeton has averaged 6.0 three-pointers in its last three games.
Ratio days -- Princeton has 127 assists and 129 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.
Say Wente -- Kyle Wente has averaged 7.5 points per game in Princeton's wins and 2.2 points per game in Princeton's losses.
More Wente -- Kyle Wente had 13 points in 18 minutes against Holy Cross after having no points in 18 minutes in the two previous games combined.
Long range thinking -- Mike Bechtold has made at least four three-pointers four times in eight games and at least three three-pointers six times in nine games.
Still more long range -- C.J. Chapman has attempted 48 three-point shots and six two-points shots.
DQ'd -- Princeton has had a player foul out 11 times in the first nine games. Princeton had a player foul out 12 times in 30 games a year ago.
For starters -- Princeton has no player on its team who has started every game of his career for the first time since the last game of the 1986-87 season.
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".
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.