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Princeton University Athletics
New York State Of Mind
February 06, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 6, 2003
The men's basketball team was the last in Division I to play a conference game, but it didn't waste any time getting its first two wins. The Tigers have won four straight, two in league play, and will try to continue both streaks this weekend, beginning Friday night at Columbia (7 p.m., WCTC 1450 AM, GoPrincetonTigers.com).
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The Facts
PRINCETON at COLUMBIA
The site Levien Gym * New York, N.Y.
The date Friday, February 7, 2003 *7:00 p.m.
Radio WCTC 1450 AM; www.GoPrincetonTigers.com
The records Princeton: 8-7, 2-0 Ivy League (four wins in a row); Columbia: 2-14, 0-4 Ivy League (eight losses in a row)
The coaches Princeton: John Thompson (third season, 40-29); Columbia: Armond Hill (eighth season, 72-130)
The series Princeton leads 127-80
Last year Princeton won 49-41, Feb. 1, 2002 at Princeton, N.J.; Princeton won 49-48, Mar. 2, 2002 at New York, N.Y.
The Notes
These Defenses Don't Rest Princeton has had the best national scoring defense in eight of the last 10 seasons. It nearly had nine, but its 57.4 PPG defense last season was second best to Columbia's 57.0 PPG defense.
Getting Defensive Columbia and Princeton are in the top three scoring defenses in the Ivy League this season. Penn leads the league, allowing 60.2 points per game. Columbia is second (61.4 PPG) and Princeton is third (62.8 PPG). Road Warriors Princeton has won eight of its last nine contests at Levien Gym, including a 49-48 win over Columbia last season.
New York Minute Princeton led for less than one minute in last year's win at Columbia, although it chose the only important time to earn that lead. Mike Bechtold's three-pointer with 33.5 seconds remaining gave Princeton its first and only lead in the 49-48 win.
Bech-told You So Mike Bechtold scored more than half of Princeton's points in last year's win at Levien Gym (25 of 49). Current players combined to make three field goals in the game.
Seventh Heaven Princeton has started its Ivy League season 2-0 for the seventh straight season. In the previous six seasons, the Tigers have won their third game each time and only failed to complete the second weekend sweep once (1999-2000, loss at Yale).
Oh Captain, My Captain Senior captain Kyle Wente led Princeton to a sweep in its first Ivy League weekend with 7.5 points, 6.0 assists, 6.0 rebounds, 3.5 steals and 1.0 turnovers per game. He played 77 of a possible 80 minutes during the weekend.
Seventh Heaven 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 four straight since then.
Climbing Ivy John Thompson has an .800 winning percentage (24-6) in Ivy League regular-season games during his three years at Princeton.
Home Is Where The Heart Is Princeton is 4-2 and has scored 72.3 points per game in six home contests this season. In seven road games (not counting neutral-site games), the Tigers are 2-5 and have averaged 64.3 points per game.
Board Games Two of the top four rebounders in the Ivy League will meet Friday night, when Marco McCottry (2nd/7.6 per game) and Judson Wallace (4th/6.4 per game) take the court. Wallace will meet the No. 3 rebounder in the league the next night in Cornell's Eric Taylor (7.5).
Double trouble Sophomore center Judson Wallace nearly recorded his second double-double of the season Friday night, scoring a career-best 20 points to go along with nine rebounds. Wallace came into the game with 12 free throws made in the season, and hit a career-best nine in the win.
Will the thrill Sophomore Will Venable led all scorers with 21 points on Friday night and scored Princeton's first nine points. He missed his first game of the season Saturday with a deep thigh bruise, but is not expected to miss any time this weekend.
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
Providing Assist-ance Princeton leads the Ivy League in assists with 15.8 per game and in assist/turnover ratio (+1.27 per game).
Moving Up The Charts Spencer Gloger has 104 career three-pointers, ninth-best all-time at Princeton. He needs 16 to tie Mike Bechtold '02 for eighth. At his current pace, Gloger would finish the season in sixth.
More Moves Spencer Gloger leads the Ivy League in three-pointers. He averages 2.60 per game.
Streak Stoppers Spencer Gloger had two streaks end last Friday night. He had scored in double figures each game this season, which nobody since Alan Williams had done in the 1986-87 season. He also had made at least one three-pointer in each game this season. Gloger scored four points and was 0 for 7 from beyond the arc last night. He restarted both streaks the next night, scoring 16 points and adding a three-pointer in the win over Dartmouth.
Ray Of Hope Senior Ray Robins stepped into the starting lineup for the injured Will Venable last Saturday and scored 14 points for the Tigers. Robins has been Princeton's highest scorer off the bench, averaging 9.6 points per game this season.
The Shot Junior Ed Persia, who moved into the starting lineup for Robins after the Rider contest, 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 (456 games).
On The One Hand ... Princeton has the longest current streak in Division I of consecutive games without allowing at least 100 points (928 games, dating to 1968 vs. North Carolina).
... On The Other Hand Princeton has not reached the 100-point mark in 864 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 travel to Ithaca, N.Y., to battle Cornell Saturday night at 8 p.m. Princeton swept the Big Red last season. Following the contest in Cornell, Princeton will travel to The Palestra Tuesday night to play Penn at 8 p.m. The game will be televised on Comcast Sportsnet.
Spencer Gloger 16.0 16.7 -0.7
Will Venable 13.4 10.1 3.3
Judson Wallace 8.4 8.9 -0.5
Ed Persia 7.4 7.1 0.3