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Princeton University Athletics
Men's Basketball Faces Brown in Battle for First Place
February 21, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2004
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The Princeton men's basketball team can win the Ivy League title and earn the league's automatic NCAA tournament berth by winning its next five games, a road that begins Saturday night in a battle for first place with red-hot Brown at Jadwin Gym (7:37 p.m., Patriot, WPRB 103.3, GoPrincetonTigers.com).
The Tigers and the Bears each had impressive wins on Friday night. Brown won at Penn for the first time since the 1990-91 season, defeating the Quakers 78-74 behind 29 points from junior guard Jason Forte and 22 points from swingman Patrick Powers. Princeton trailed Yale by 14 points late in the first half but outscored the Bulldogs 42-23 in the second half, winning 70-58 behind 29 points from Judson Wallace and another stellar all-around effort from Will Venable.
A Princeton win would leave the Tigers two games ahead of the field in the loss column in the Ivy League race. A Brown win would put the Bears one-half game ahead of the Tigers and, potentially, leave Princeton and Brown just one game ahead of both Penn and Cornell in the loss column.
The Tigers have a 52-1 record all-time against Brown in Princeton. Venable scored a then-season-high 18 points and shot 8 for 9 from the field for the Tigers in a 64-49 victory over the Bears in Providence three weeks ago.
NOTE OF THE DAY It's Simple -- Princeton can take a two-game lead in the loss column in the Ivy League race with a win against Brown. The Tigers and Bears would each have two losses if Brown wins tonight.
EIGHT MORE THINGS YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT
Getting Ahead of Ourselves -- The Tigers can clinch an outright Ivy League title and the league's automatic NCAA tournament berth by winning their next five games.
Coming From Behind -- Princeton has trailed by at least seven points in the first half in each of its last five games but has come back to win four of those games.
Shooting Stars -- The Tigers are shooting 70 for 131 as a team (53.4%) from the field in their last three games. Princeton has shot 50% or better in five of six halves during those three games.
The Bear Facts -- The Tigers have a 52-1 record all-time against Brown in Princeton. The Bears' first win in Princeton came last season, and Brown has never swept a weekend series at Penn & Princeton.
Back on Track -- Judson Wallace has scored 74 points in his last three games (24.7 ppg) and scored 114 points (22.8 ppg) in his first five games. In the 12 games in between, Wallace scored 97 points (8.1 ppg).
League of His Own -- Judson Wallace has now scored 21 or more points in seven of Princeton's last 13 Ivy League games. Wallace scored 21 or more four times in the last five games of last year.
By the Numbers...-- The Tigers are now 11-0 this season when shooting 50% or better from the field and 12-0 this season when scoring 60 or more points.
Winning Numbers -- Princeton's win over Yale clinched at least a .500 record in league play for the Tigers for the 51st consecutive year, the longest such streak in NCAA Division I.