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Princeton University Athletics
New York, New York
March 06, 2003 | Men's Basketball
March 6, 2003
The men's basketball team welcomes the New York portion of the Ivy League schedule to Jadwin Gym this weekend, as Cornell and Columbia will look to damage Princeton's goal of an eighth straight postseason appearance. Cornell will take the first shot against Princeton on Friday (7:30 p.m., WCTC 1450 AM, GoPrincetonTigers.com).
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The Facts
PRINCETON at CORNELL
The site Jadwin Gym *Princeton, N.J.
The date Friday, March 7, 2003 *7:30 p.m.
TV/Radio RCN; WCTC 1450 AM; www.GoPrincetonTigers.com
The records Princeton: 14-10, 8-3 Ivy League (one loss in a row); Cornell: 9-16, 4-8 Ivy League (one loss in a row)
The coaches Princeton: John Thompson (third season, 45-32); Cornell: Steve Donahue (third season, 21-58)
The series Princeton leads 129-68
Last time Princeton won 67-49, Feb. 8, 2003 at Ithaca, N.Y.
The Notes
Sweep Dreams Princeton has swept the last 10 Cornell-Columbia weekends at home.
No Place Like Home Princeton has defeated Cornell at home 17 straight times, its longest active winning streak at Jadwin Gym over any Ivy League team.
Road Warriors Led by a 27-point weekend by Ed Persia, Princeton swept Cornell (67-49) and Columbia (68-51) in early February. No Margin For Error Princeton needs everything to break perfectly to earn its third straight Ivy League title. Princeton must run the table and hope Penn drops each of its final three games. Brown must also lose once this weekend.
Ray Of Hope Senior Ray Robins scored a career-high 28 points in Princeton's last home victory against Cornell, a 60-38 win last season. Robins has also had a pair of 14-point efforts against Cornell in the past, including one in the 67-49 win in Ithaca last month.
Wallace's Way Sophomore Judson Wallace set a career high in points twice last weekend, scoring 23 points in a win over Yale before scoring 24 points the next night at Brown.
Playing The Percentages For the weekend, Wallace shot 51.7% from the field (15 for 29), 60% from beyond the arc (9 for 15) and 88.9% from the charity stripe (8 for 9).
Double Trouble He also added nine rebounds against Yale; it was the fifth time this season he has missed a double-double by either a single point or a single rebound.
Mr. Ed Junior Ed Persia enters the weekend 10th all-time at Princeton in three-pointers made with 104. With six more, he would move past Spencer Gloger for ninth.
Just Win, Baby Princeton has ensured itself of its 50th consecutive non-losing Ivy League season. Princeton's streak is the second longest of all time behind UCLA's current streak of 54. UCLA (3-11 in the Pac-10) will have its streak end at the end of this season.
More Win, Baby Princeton's streak of 50 consecutive non-losing conference seasons is the second-longest in history. The top five all-time: 54 UCLA (1948-02) (The Bruins' streak will end at 54.) 50 Princeton (1953-active) 37 North Carolina (1964-01) 27 Arkansas (1924-51) 26 Purdue (1919-45)
Last Win When UCLA's 54-year streak ends this season, Princeton will have the longest active streak. The second-longest belongs to Syracuse, which will have its 22nd straight non-losing league record this season.
Point, Counterpoint Princeton's top two scorers, based on points-per-game average, are no longer with the team. Junior Andre Logan averaged 12.0 points in the first three games before having knee surgery and withdrawing from school. He will have two years of eligibility remaining when he returns. Junior Spencer Gloger averaged 15.7 points per game before being ruled academically ineligible. Gloger is not currently enrolled at Princeton University.
A 50-50 Proposition Princeton has shot at least 50% from the field in each of its last four games and in five out of the last six games.
Not Bad, For Starters If Ed Persia can average 11.4 points per game the rest of the season and Judson Wallace, Ray Robins and Will Venable maintain their current pace, Princeton would end the season with five current or former starters (Spencer Gloger) averaging double-digits points in Ivy League games.
Five Alive Ray Robins is averaging nearly five more points per game in Princeton victories (12.4 ppg) than he is in Princeton losses (7.6 ppg).
With Honors Ray Robins became the first Princeton player since the 2000-01 season to earn Ivy League Player of the Week honors after leading the Tigers to a sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth. Robins shot 70.8% from the field for the weekend, including a 7-for-8 performance against Dartmouth on Friday.
Half And Half The top half of the Ivy League (Brown, Penn, Princeton and Yale) is 24-0 against the bottom half of the league (Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth and Harvard).
Back To The SweepsSo far this season, every season series has been a sweep. If Penn-Princeton and Yale-Brown both sweep this weekend, and if Penn beats Princeton in the season finale, every Ivy League series would be won 2-0 by one team.
Seventh Heaven Princeton set a program record by reaching its seventh consecutive postseason (four NCAA tournaments, three NITs). It is one of 19 teams to reach at least seven consecutive postseasons.
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 (464 games).
On The One Hand ... Princeton has the longest current streak in Division I of consecutive games without allowing at least 100 points (937 games, dating to 1968 vs. North Carolina).
... On The Other Hand Princeton has not reached the 100-point mark in 873 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 the final game of its regular season Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m. against Pennsylvania (Comcast SportsNet, WBUD 1260 AM, GoPrincetonTigers.com). Penn won the first meeting 65-55 at The Palestra, thanks to a game-high 22 points from Ugonna Onyekwe. If the Tigers are not in an Ivy League playoff, they will wait for word from the NIT about a possible selection.