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Princeton University Athletics
Down The Stretch They Come
February 21, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2001
Princeton vs. Harvard
The site Jadwin Gym * Princeton, N.J.
The date Friday, Feb. 23, 2001 *?7:37 p.m.
Radio/TV WHWH AM 1350, www.goprincetontigers.com/no TV
The records Princeton: 11-10 (6-3 Ivy League), Harvard: 12-10 (5-5 Ivy League)
The coaches Princeton: John Thompson (first season, 11-10), Harvard: Frank Sullivan (17th season, 223-234)
The series Princeton leads 107-35
Last meeting Princeton defeated Harvard 69-67 * Feb. 9, 2001
Down the stretch they come - Princeton is in a three-way tie for first place in the Ivy League with Penn and Yale, one game ahead of Brown and two games ahead (in the loss column) of Harvard and Columbia. All six teams are still in the race, Cornell and Dartmouth have been mathematically eliminated.
More stretch - Should Princeton, Penn or Yale win its remaining five regular-season games, it would win the league championship outright. Should Brown win its remaining five regular-season games, it would ensure itself of at least a tie for the league title, and it could be no more than a two-team tie. Still more stretch - It is mathematically possible for there to be anywhere from an outright Ivy champion to a six-way tie for first. A six-way tie would require each of 28 games to turn out a specific way, the odds of which are 268,443,456-1.
Even more stretch - By the end of the weekend, Princeton can be anywhere from alone in first place with a two-game lead to a tie for fifth place. The same is true for Penn and Yale.
No place like home - Princeton is shooting exactly 50% from the field at home (119 for 238). Princeton is shooting 42.6% on the road (293 for 688).
More home - Princeton is at home for the first time since playing five road games in a nine-day span. Princeton is 4-0 at home and 2-3 on the road in the league.
Last home - The home team is 27-11 in league games this season. Should the home team win every remaining league game, then Princeton would be the outright league champion.
History lesson - No Ivy League team has fewer than three losses. No team since Princeton in 1990 has won the league with at least three losses, though the league champion had at least three losses every year from 1984-1990.
More history - No team has ever won the Ivy League title with more than four losses.
Double play - Princeton does not have a player averaging in double figures. The last time Princeton went an entire season without a player averaging in double figures was 1945-46.
Upside down - Princeton is 3-0 against teams in the top half of the league standings and 3-3 against teams in the bottom half.
You need a TO - Princeton is 5-0 in Ivy games played with the 16-12-8-4 media timeout format and 1-3 in Ivy games played with the 14-7 media timeout format. Princeton's three remaining home games will be played with the 16-12-8-4 format, its two remaining road games will be played with the 14-7 format.
The great escape - Princeton defeated Harvard 69-67 in Cambridge Feb. 10 on Kyle Wente's three-pointer from 25 feet at the buzzer. Princeton had trailed by 11 points with nine minutes remaining and nine points with five minutes remaining.
Down to the wire - The first Princeton-Harvard game featured three lead changes in the final 19.7 seconds.
Playing from ahead - Princeton did not trail at any point in the second half of its home games against Cornell and Columbia and did not lead at any point in the second half of its road games against Cornell and Columbia.
Sweep dreams - Prior to last weekend, Princeton had not been swept in an Ivy League weekend since losing at Columbia and Cornell in 1993. In between Princeton had swept 39 Ivy weekends.
The last whammy - Princeton has won 46 straight home games against Ivy League teams other than Penn.
Swish - Princeton shot a season-best 56.5% in its first game this season against Harvard.
Inside, outside - Princeton has attempted 456 two-pointers and 470 three-pointers.
It's cold outside - Princeton shot 15 for 53 on three-point shots in the games at Columbia and Cornell.
Career night - Kyle Wente had a career-high 22 points, including the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer, in Princeton's first game this season against Harvard.
Minute man - C.J. Chapman leads Princeton in minutes played (628).
More minutes - Ahmed El-Nokali has played 380 of Princeton's last 400 minutes.
Hey, stranger - Ahmed El-Nokali and Mike Bechtold have both played more than 20 minutes in the same game twice this season (vs. Texas Christian and the College of New Jersey).
Getting better - Mike Bechtold, who has missed most of the second half of the season with a foot injury, played 13 minutes against Cornell Friday night. Prior to that, Bechtold had played a total of three minutes in Princeton's previous six games.
Minute waltz - Mike Bechtold played 28 minutes in two games against Cornell. He has played nine minutes in Princeton's other seven Ivy games combined.
Point, counterpoint - Mike Bechtold scored 116 points in the first eight games (14.5 per game). Bechtold, who has been slowed by injuries to his foot and toe since, has scored 34 points in the last 12 games (2.8 per game).
Can you spare a dime? - Nate Walton has 238 career assists, ninth-best all-time at Princeton. Walton needs six to tie Gabe Lewullis for eighth and 22 to tie Armond Hill for seventh.
More dimes - Nate Walton has 81 assists this season. He needs 19 to become the fourth Princeton player ever with two seasons of at least 100 assists, along with current Tiger head coach John Thompson, current Columbia coach Armond Hill and Kit Mueller.
Still more dimes - Nate Walton has 238 career assists in 1,755 career minutes. Gabe Lewullis had 244 career assists in 3,511 career minutes, one minute more than twice the amount Walton has played.
Last dimes - Nate Walton has played fewer career minutes than any other player among Princeton's top 10 all-time leaders in assists.
Long range thinking - C.J. Chapman has 129 career three-pointers, seventh-best all-time at Princeton. He needs 13 to tie Chris Mooney for sixth.
More long range - C.J. Chapman has played fewer career minutes than any other player among Princeton's top 10 three-pointers made leaders.
Ball control - Ahmed El-Nokali has averaged one turnover every 22.7 minutes in Ivy League games.
Lineup card - No Princeton player has started every game this season.
More lineup - Princeton has had 10 different players start at least one game this season.
Last lineup - C.J. Chapman is the only Princeton player to appear in every game the last two seasons.
Block party - Princeton has blocked 48 shots and had 13 of its own shots blocked in 21 games.
More blocks - Andre Logan has blocked more shots than Princeton's entire team has had blocked (14-13).
Special K - Princeton is 5-0 in Ivy League games when Konrad Wysocki plays at least 20 minutes and 1-3 in Ivy League games when he plays 19 minutes or fewer.
More K - Konrad Wysocki is shooting 65% on two-point shots for the season.
Logan's run - Andre Logan started one non-league game, he has started all nine Ivy League games.
Foul ball - Princeton averaged 10.1 free throw attempts per game in its non-league games. Princeton has averaged 18.1 free-throw attempts per game in its Ivy League games.