.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Men's Hoops Readys Itself For Annual Battle At The Palestra
February 10, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2003
Few regular-season games have as much impact on Selection Sunday as Tuesday's contest at The Palestra between Princeton (4-0 Ivy) and Penn (4-0). The game, which begins at 8:00 and can be seen live on Comcast Sportsnet or heard on WBUD 1260 AM or GoPrincetonTigers.com, features two teams who have represented the Ivy League in each of the last 14 years. The winner of the first Penn-Princeton game has done it in 12 of them.
Princeton-Penn Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
The Facts
PRINCETON at PENNSYLVANIA
The site The Palestra * Philadelphia, Pa.
The date Tuesday, February 11, 2003 *8:00 p.m.
TV/Radio Comcast Sportsnet; WBUD 1260 AM; www.GoPrincetonTigers.com
The records Princeton: 10-7, 4-0 Ivy League (six wins in a row); Pennsylvania: 12-5, 4-0 Ivy League (five wins in a row)
The coaches Princeton: John Thompson (third season, 41-29); Pennsylvania: Fran Dunphy (14th season, 243-134)
The series Pennsylvania leads 111-95
Last year Pennsylvania won 62-38, Feb. 12, 2002 at Princeton, N.J.; Pennsylvania won 64-48, Mar. 5, 2002 at Philadelphia, Pa.
Game Notes
We Are The Champions, Or They Are Either Princeton or Penn has won the Ivy League championship and represented the Ivy League in the NCAA tournament for 14 straight seasons, as well as 32 of the last 34 and 37 of the last 40. We Are The Champions, And/Or They Are Because the Ivy League considers teams that tie for the regular-season championship to be co-champions regardless of the outcome of the playoff game, Princeton and Penn have combined to win 40 Ivy League championships in the last 38 years.
Not What You Might Think The Princeton-Penn game has been decided by at least 10 points 20 times in the last 28 meetings.
On The One Hand Princeton is 4-2 in its last six games against Penn at the Palestra.
On The Other Hand Princeton lost two games at the Palestra by a combined 32 points in a three-day stretch of last March, falling to Penn in the regular season finale and Yale in first round of the Ivy playoff by 16 point each.
In Case You Forgot Princeton trailed Penn 29-3 in the first half, 33-9 at halftime and 40-13 with 15 minutes remaining before rallying to win 50-49 in the 1999 game at the Palestra.
Sweep Dreams Either Penn or Princeton has swept the regular-season games between the two 11 times in the last 12 seasons. The only season during that time in which their has been a regular-season split was 1999, when Princeton rallied to win 50-49 at the Palestra.
Seeing 20-20Princeton and Penn are 20-20 in their last 40 regular-season meetings.
Strength Of SchedulePrinceton's last three games have come against teams with a combined record of 13-43 (.232), 2-16 in league play. Its next three games will be against teams with a 33-23 record (.589), 14-2 in league play.
Double TroubleThree current Princeton players have scored in double figures once at The Palestra in their respective careers. Will Venable had 10 last year, Konrad Wysocki had 12 in 2001 and Spencer Gloger had 11 in 2000. Wysocki leads all current Princeton players with 24 points in the building (three last year against Penn, nine against Yale; 12 against Penn in 2001).
StreakingPrinceton is on a season-long six-game winning streak. In the last seven seasons, Princeton has gone into the Palestra with at least a six-game winning streak six times, going 4-2 in those games.
SwishPrinceton is shooting .517 from the field and .417 from the three-point line in its 10 wins and .404/.312 in its seven losses.
7-Up In each of head coach John Thompson's previous two seasons, Princeton went 4-7 before going on to both a long winning streak and an eventual Ivy League title. The Tigers opened this season 4-7 and have won six straight since then.
Oh Captain, My Captain Kyle Wente's averages in nonleague and Ivy League games:
Nonleague Ivy Points 5.5 6.3 Rebounds 3.8 5.5 Assists 3.5 5.3 Steals 1.6 3.3 Turnovers 1.5 1.5Playing The PercentagesPrinceton has shot at least 40% from the field in nine of its 10 wins. The Tigers are also 9-1 when they have a better shooting percentage that their opponents.
Climbing Ivy John Thompson has an .813 winning percentage (26-6) in Ivy League regular-season games during his three years at Princeton.
Mr. Ed Junior Ed Persia led Princeton in scoring against Cornell with 16 points on a 6-for-9 shooting night. Persia hit 4 of 5 three-point attempts, and is shooting .643 from beyond the arc in Ivy League play.
For Starters Princeton was 3-4 before John Thompson inserted Ed Persia into the starting lineup before the Texas game. Since then, the Tigers have gone 7-3. Persia averaged 5.1 points per game coming off the bench and had a -1.18 assist:turnover ratio. Since he has started, he is averaging 10.0 points per game and has a +1.8 assist:turnover ratio.
Ray Of Hope Senior Ray Robins leads all Princeton reserves in scoring with 9.6 points per game. He is shooting a team-best .684 (13 for 19) from the field in Ivy League play and is shooting .556 (5 of 9) from three-point land.
Will-ing them to victory Of the five starters, Will Venable's point production is the most different in games won and games lost:
Player Win Loss Difference Spencer Gloger 15.8 16.7 -0.9 Will Venable 12.9 10.1 2.8 Judson Wallace 8.1 8.9 -0.8 Ed Persia 8.6 7.1 1.5 Kyle Wente 6.4 4.7 1.7
Out Of The Gates Princeton is averaging 39.0 points in the first half of its nine wins and 27.1 points in the first half of its seven losses.
The Shot Junior Ed Persia had the highlight of the season so far for Princeton. He grabbed both an unbelievable victory and national attention by defeating Monmouth on Dec. 3 with an 85-foot bank shot at the buzzer. The play began with .7 of a second remaining on the clock and the score tied at 57-57.
Three For All Princeton has made at least one three-pointer in every game since the rule was enacted in the 1986-87 season (457 games).
On The One Hand Princeton has the longest current streak in Division I of consecutive games without allowing at least 100 points (930 games, dating to 1968 vs. North Carolina).
... On The Other Hand Princeton has not reached the 100-point mark in 866 games, dating to a 108-64 win over Yale in 1971.
What's The Scoop? Princeton's upcoming recruiting class was ranked in the Top 50 recently by the publication Hoop Scoop. Princeton has already had four recruits receive early admittance, including a pair of California kids, Harrison Schaen (6-9, Mater Dei HS) and Brian Elbogen (6-8, California HS). The other two players coming to Princeton next season are Max Schafer (6-1, Depaul HS, N.J.) and Luke Owings (6-5, Gonzaga HS, D.C.).
The Crystal Ball Princeton will play its second consecutive game against an undefeated team in Ivy League play on Friday when it battles Brown at 7:30 (RCN TV, WCTC 1450 AM, GoPrincetonTigers.com). Princeton has won all 52 contests against Brown at Jadwin Gym and has won 15 straight overall against the Bears.