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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men's Basketball to Visit Central Connecticut State Saturday
December 17, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Princeton (2-6, 0-0 Ivy) at Central Connecticut State (4-5, 1-0 Northeast)
Saturday, Dec. 20, 1 p.m. at CCSU's Detrick Gym
Princeton Head Coach: Sydney Johnson (Second season, 8-29 at Princeton/Overall)
Radio: WPRB 103.3 (John Sadak, Play-by-Play); TV: Cox Sports Television (Local CT/RI)
All-Time Series: Princeton leads 1-0 overall, 0-0 at CCSU/Detrick Gym
Good memories: Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson got his first win as a head coach last season against Central Connecticut State in the season opener at Jadwin Gym.
Snap that streak: Princeton has lost its last four, including the last three games by 10 or fewer points. Five of Princeton's six losses this season are by 10 or fewer.
Neighborhood games: Though Princeton is within the Northeast Conference's footprint, the Tigers have a very limited history with the league, established in 1981 as the ECAC Metro and renamed in 1988. Princeton is 10-4 against the NEC, including 9-4 against Monmouth and 1-0 against Central Connecticut State.
Last time vs. CCSU: A 12-0 run bridging the halftime break turned a 10-point Princeton deficit into a two-point Tiger lead with 17:04 to play. Princeton led most of the way after that and held on for a 59-57 win Nov. 11, 2007 at Jadwin Gym.
Who's back: Princeton returns just 27 of its 57 points from last year's game, including Zach Finley's game-high 22 and five from Marcus Schroeder. CCSU returns all but Tristan Blackwood's 12 points, including the team-best 14 points provided by Joe Seymore.
Ivy vs. NEC in ?08-'09: The Ivy League is 2-3 against the Northeast Conference in their meetings so far this season. Dartmouth lost to Quinnipiac 76-74 this past Wednesday, Yale has lost to Sacred Heart (63-57, Nov. 30) and Wagner (83-74, Dec. 6), while Columbia beat Wagner (84-69, Dec. 3) and Penn beat Monmouth (83-62, Nov. 22). There will be two other games between the conferences after Princeton-CCSU, with Brown visiting Wagner Sunday and Cornell hosting Quinnipiac Dec. 31.
Sydney Johnson vs. the NEC: Sydney Johnson is 2-1 against the NEC, splitting with Monmouth as a player and defeating CCSU last season in his head coaching debut. Georgetown played no NEC teams during his three seasons there as assistant coach. Johnson is 1-0 on the road against the NEC, winning at Monmouth Dec. 14, 1997.
Common foes: Princeton and CCSU have only one common opponent this season, and Princeton hasn't played them yet. CCSU defeated Lafayette 82-78 on Nov. 30 in New Britain, and Princeton will travel to Easton to face the Leopards Dec. 30.
Freshman leaders: The 34 points scored by Princeton's freshmen in Sunday's loss at Manhattan was a season-high. It helped that Doug Davis poured in 27, but Patrick Saunders added four and John Comfort had his first career points with a late three-pointer. The freshman class, again buoyed by big games from Davis, led the team in scoring against Central Michigan and Maine, but the juniors led Princeton ieach of the five games since, until Sunday.
Starting scorers: With Doug Davis (27) and Pawel Buczak (15) leading the way, the starting five scored 49 points at Manhattan, the largest output of the season for Princeton's starters. The team has had the same starting five through the first eight games of the season.
Rookie of the Week: Doug Davis has earned the Ivy League Rookie of the Week honor twice this season, most recently after his 27-point performance at Manhattan Dec. 14. He also earned it after scoring 25 points Nov. 14 against Central Michigan.
The tournament: Princeton has been to the NCAA Tournament more often than CCSU, but the Blue Devils have been there more recently. Princeton has appeared in the Big Dance 23 times, most recently in 2004, while CCSU made appearances in 2000, 2002 and 2007. In 2000 in Minneapolis, CCSU as a 15 seed lost to an Elite 8 team in Iowa State. In 2002 in Pittsburgh as a 14 seed, CCSU lost to a Sweet 16 team in the Pitt Panthers, and in 2007 in Lexington as a 16 seed, CCSU fell to national runner-up Ohio State. CCSU joined Division I for the 1986-87 season.
Early risers: Saturday's 1 p.m. tip-off is the earliest for any Princeton road game this season. Two games from now, Princeton will have its earliest tip overall when it hosts UNC Greensboro at noon in a game televised by ESPNU.
Speaking of TV: Saturday's game will be Princeton's first on television this season. Cox Sports Television will be showing the game to subscribers in parts of Connecticut and all of Rhode Island. The Tigers will also be on TV twice on ESPNU, against UNC Greensboro Jan. 3 and Penn Feb. 17, and on CN8 at Penn Mar. 10.
From the field: After shooting a season-low 32.7% at St. Bonaventure, Princeton has improved its shooting percentage in each of its last two games. The best shooting performance by the Tigers was at Fordham, where they made 54.3% of their attempts.
Turnovers: Prior to the St. Bonaventure game, Princeton had not had fewer than 15 turnovers in any contest. In the last three games, Princeton has not had more than 13 giveaways.
Watch those threes: Manhattan had a season-best for any Princeton opponent by shooting 50% from three-point range (5 for 10). Including that game, Princeton still limits its opponents to 27.6% shooting from beyond the arc.
A trend to reverse: After outshooting its opponents from the field in each of the first four games, Princeton's opponents have won the field goal percentage battle in each of the last four contests.
It's a shot we like: Princeton has attempted more three-pointers than its opponents in every game this season. The Tigers have also made as many or more threes than their opponents in every game this season.
Get to the line: Princeton has never attempted more free throws than its opponent in any game this season. That said, Princeton has made a higher percentage of its attempts than its opponent in five of eight games this season.
And then there was one: With Zach Finley and Kareem Maddox not scoring for the first time this season against Manhattan, Doug Davis is the only Tiger to have scored in all eight games this season.
So, it's gonna be a tie?: CCSU has scored 605 points this season, an average of 67.2 per game. It has also allowed 605 points.
One big scorer: Each team has just one player averaging double-figure points, with CCSU's Ken Horton at 20.9 points and Princeton's Doug Davis at 14.1. Horton, a sophomore, had his career-high of 33 against Albany Nov. 22 and Davis, a freshman, had his career-high 27 in Princeton's last game at Manhattan.
Hot and cold: Princeton and Central Connecticut will head to two very different climates for their next games. Princeton will stay local (and chilly) by going to Easton, Pa., to face Lafayette, while CCSU will warm up in Tempe, Ariz., against Arizona State.
Princeton in the Ivy rankings: Heading into the week, Princeton led the Ivy League in four categories: scoring defense (60.0 ppg), 3-point shooting percentage (38.1%), 3-point shooting percentage defense (27.6%) and rebounding defense (31.1 rpg).
Compared to last season: Princeton is making more of its three-point attempts than a year ago, hitting 38.1% this season compared to 32.9% last season. At the free-throw line, Princeton is making 72.9% this season compared to 69.8% in 2007-08.
Compared to last season, individually: Princeton's top four non-freshmen by points per game have each raised their scoring averages from a year ago. Pawel Buczak is up to 7.4 ppg from 1.1, Dan Mavraides is up to 6.6 from 1.6, Nick Lake is up to 6.1 from 3.9, and Kareem Maddox is up to 6.1 from 3.7.
Connecticut memories: The last Princeton NCAA Tournament win, and the last NCAA win for any Ivy team, came in Hartford over UNLV in the first round of the 1998 tournament.
Princeton vs. the Nutmeg State: All but six of the 224 games Princeton has played against the current seven Division I schools based in Connecticut have come against Yale. In addition to being 1-0 against CCSU, the Tigers are 1-2 against UConn, 1-0 against Fairfield, 1-0 against Hartford and have not played Quinnipiac or Sacred Heart..