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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
SEC Makes First Visit to Jadwin in 23 Years as Men's Basketball Hosts South Carolina Tuesday
December 01, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Princeton (2-2, 0-0 Ivy) vs. South Carolina (4-1, 0-0 SEC)
Tuesday, Dec. 2, 7 p.m., Jadwin Gym
Princeton Head Coach: Sydney Johnson (Second season, 8-25 at Princeton/Overall)
Radio: WPRB 103.3 (John Sadak, Play-by-Play; Jerry Price, Color)
All-Time Series: Princeton leads 3-2 overall, 0-0 at Jadwin Gym
Home sweet home?: Princeton will end its brief two-game road trip with a game Tuesday night against South Carolina. A win would give the Tigers their first home win of the season after dropping the campaign's first two games by a possession each. Princeton then went out and won two on the road.
The SEC comes to Jadwin: Princeton will host a Southeastern Conference team for just the second time in history Tuesday night when South Carolina comes to Jadwin Gym. The only other time an SEC member has played the Tigers in Jadwin was Dec. 21, 1985, when Vanderbilt beat Princeton 49-44.
Princeton vs. the SEC: Princeton holds a 4-13 record against schools in the SEC at the time of the game. The wins came against Kentucky (1926), Mississippi State (1965), Alabama (1975) and South Carolina (1992).
Princeton all-time vs. South Carolina: Tuesday's game is the return of a home game played Dec. 20, 2006 at South Carolina, which the Gamecocks won 54-48. In the five meetings all-time, Princeton has a 3-2 lead, winning in 1975, 1988 and 1992 and losing in 1974 and 2006.
SEC-you in December: Of the 17 times Princeton has met a school in the SEC at the time of the game, 14 of those contests have been played in December. The other three were in March in the NCAA Tournament.
SEC-you in the postseason: Three of Princeton's meetings with SEC teams have come in the NCAA Tournament. Another game, against South Carolina before the Gamecocks joined the SEC in 1991, came in the 1975 NIT quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden on the way to Princeton's NIT title. The other three meetings were a first-round NCAA loss to Kentucky in 1977, played at The Palestra, a 1990 first-round loss to Arkansas, played at Texas, and a 1996 second-round loss to Mississippi State, played at Indianapolis following Princeton's upset of UCLA.
Sydney Johnson vs. the SEC: The Princeton head coach is 2-5 against the SEC as a player and a Georgetown assistant, winning his last two meetings with conference teams. In Johnson's freshman year of 1993-94, Princeton lost to Vanderbilt, two years before falling to Mississippi State in the NCAA Tournament. At Georgetown, the Hoyas lost to South Carolina in the 2005 NIT, Vanderbilt during the 2005-06 regular season, and Florida in that year's NCAA Tournament. In 2006-07, Georgetown beat Vanderbilt in the regular season and again in the NCAAs.
Big Six in Jadwin: Other than Rutgers, which plays at Jadwin every other year, South Carolina is the first major-conference team to play at Princeton since Kansas came in on Dec. 12, 2001. Leading scorers that night were Will Venable for Princeton with 11 points and Nick Collison for Kansas with 16.
Another streak broken: Just a few days after breaking a 24-game losing streak with their first win away from Jadwin Gym since Dec. 30, 2006, the Tigers won back-to-back road games for the first time since Nov. 22 and 28, 2006 when they won their second straight away from home against Fordham.
Four squared: Doug Davis has had exactly four rebounds in each of his first four games.
Still double-digit Doug: Rookie Doug Davis extended his career-starting double-digit scoring streak to four games with 11 points at Fordham. He remains the first Princeton freshman to have a career-starting streak that long.
Briggs' best: Jason Briggs set a career best with four assists against Fordham and also had a season-high six points.
14 for 14: Nick Lake scored 14 points against Fordham, his fourth career double-digit scoring game, two points off his career high and his most of the season. He also had a career-high nine rebounds, setting a career best by two and narrowly missing a double-double.
Solid Saunders: Freshman Patrick Saunders had his top statistical game of the young season against Fordham, going 2 for 2 from the field including a three-pointer, pulling down five rebounds and adding two assists. All of those totals set or matched season bests.
Consistent Kareem: Sophomore Kareem Maddox has had between seven and nine points in each of the season's four games. Last Wednesday against Fordham, he had eight points and seven rebounds, his second-most of the season.
Double-digit Zach, almost: Junior center Zach Finley is used to scoring 10 or more points in a game. He has done so 17 times already in his career and has come within a bucket of doing so three times this season. Last Wednesday against Fordham, Finley had nine points in 14 minutes, his highest point-per-minute ratio of the season.
Mavraides moves up: Sophomore Dan Mavraides matched his career best by playing in four straight games. He has scored in all four, and prior to this season, Mavraides had not scored in back-to-back games. His 23 points this season more than double the 11 he had all last season.
Pawel pushes Princeton: Junior center Pawel Buczak scored a career-best 13 points last Wednesday at Fordham, more than doubling his previous careet best of six points.
10-plus: With three Tigers reaching the 10-point mark against Fordham, four Princeton players have now had double-digit scoring games.
Buczak for three: Junior center Pawel Buczak hit his first career three-pointer on his fourth-career attempt at Army. He hit another in the following game at Fordham.
More accurate as we go: Princeton's shooting percentage from the field has increased with each game. In the opener, Princeton shot 37.3% vs. Central Michigan. Against Fordham, the Tigers shot 54.3%.
More accuracy: Princeton's shooting percentage from the field has also increased from last season, both overall and beyond the arc. Last season, Princeton hit 42.5% of all shots and 32.9% of threes. This season it's at 45.0% of all shots and 38.7% of threes.
For three: While it's well known that the Tigers like the three-point shot, Princeton hit a season-high nine at Fordham. Six Tigers hit from beyond the arc with Davis' three threes as a game high.
Help please: Princeton's assist totals haven't decreased from any one game to the next this season. The Tigers had nine in the opener, 11 each in the next two games and 14 at Fordham.
No three for you: Princeton's opponents have shot lower than 20.0% from beyond the arc in each of the last two games. Not so coincidentally, both were Princeton wins.
All aboard?: Princeton has driven down its opponents' rebounding average with each game. After the opener, it was at 40 boards per game. The average currently stands at 28.8.
Free throws: Princeton is hitting 77.1% of its free throws this season, better than last season's 69.8% finish. The Tigers have hit better than 75% in three of four games this season.
Hold ?em: Princeton's opponents are averaging 54.2 points per game this season, down from 64.2 points per game at the end of last season.