.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men's Basketball to Host UNC Greensboro Saturday, Televised Live on ESPNU
December 31, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Princeton (2-8, 0-0 Ivy) vs. UNC Greensboro (1-9, 0-2 Southern Conference)
Saturday, Jan. 3, 12 p.m. at Jadwin Gymnasium
Princeton Head Coach: Sydney Johnson (Second season, 8-31 at Princeton/Overall)
Radio: WPRB 103.3 (John Sadak, Play-by-Play; Jerry Price, Color); TV: ESPNU (Live)
All-Time Series: First Meeting
Tough defeats: Five of Princeton's eight losses have come by single-digit deficits, and two others were by 10 and 11 points.
The last time...: Princeton last lost five of its first 10 games by single digits in the 2002-03 season, John Thompson III's third year as head coach. The Tigers went on to finish 10-4 in the Ivy League that season, good for third place, and won the league the next season.
Hold that lead: The Lafayette game was the third time this season that Princeton led the game for more time than its opponent but ended up with the loss.
Out-threed: For the first time since the season finale last year, Princeton's opponent hit more threes than the Tigers. Lafayette had eight to Princeton's seven. Still, Princeton has not had fewer three-point attempts than its opponents in a game since Feb. 23, 2007 when Dartmouth had 10 tries to Princeton's six.
Ivy-SoCon '08-'09: Princeton-UNCG is one of only two meetings between the Ivy League and the Southern Conference this season. On Nov. 25 in Hanover, Dartmouth beat Furman 68-63.
Hello, my name is: The Tigers have done a lot of acquainting this season, as UNC Greensboro will be the third first-time opponent Princeton has faced, after Central Michigan and Maine. The Tigers have also already renewed long-dormant series with Army, Fordham and St. Bonaventure.
New home: No, Jadwin Gym isn't going anywhere, but Princeton's opponent will be moving its games next season. Instead of playing on campus, UNCG will play in the Greensboro Coliseum full-time. The building is also a common host for the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and has hosted NCAA Tournament games in the past. Princeton played regular-season games there four times, all between 1965 and 1973, going 0-4 against North Carolina (twice), Duke and Davidson.
You look familiar: Longtime Tiger fans may be scratching their heads to try and place the familiar face roaming the sideline in front of the UNCG bench. Spartan coach Mike Dement was the head coach at Cornell from 1986-91.
Dement vs. Princeton: Between his two-season tenure as a Cornell assistant coach (1983-85) and his five seasons as the head coach, Mike Dement went 5-9 against Princeton. The Tigers won the last seven meetings of that stretch.
Princeton vs. the SoCon: All told, Princeton is 17-15 against schools in the Southern Conference at the time of the game. However, 17 of those 32 games took place more than 30 years ago against teams no longer in the conference. Against present SoCon teams, the Tigers are 7-8, including 1-0 against College of Charleston (Dec. 4, 1999) and 6-8 against Davidson, with the last meeting coming Jan. 29, 2006.
Johnson vs. the SoCon: Princeton didn't play any Southern Conference teams during Sydney Johnson's career in a Tiger uniform, nor has it in his season-plus as head coach. At Georgetown, Johnson's second and third games with the Hoyas were wins over The Citadel and Davidson in late 2004.
Happy new year?: The last time Princeton hosted a Southern Conference team was also the first game of the 2005 calendar year. Princeton beat Davidson on Jan. 2, 2005, 70-68. A free throw by current Princeton assistant coach Scott Greenman '06 gave the Tigers the final margin.
A little history: While Princeton went co-educational in 1969, UNCG did so in 1963, but in the opposite way. UNCG originally opened as a college for women in 1892. UNCG, James Madison, Radford and Longwood are the only schools that began as women's colleges and compete in Division I athletics today.
Against the system: Though the Tigers have never played UNC Greensboro, Princeton has faced five other schools in the University of North Carolina system. The Tigers are 5-8 all-time against the flagship school, UNC Chapel Hill, 2-0 against UNC Charlotte, 1-0 against North Carolina A&T, 5-1 against North Carolina State and 2-0 against UNC Wilmington.
UNCG vs. the Ivies: The Princeton game will be UNC Greensboro's first meeting with an Ivy League school in just more than 14 years. In 1994, UNCG beat Harvard. Three years earlier, the Spartans wrapped up a home-and-home series against Cornell (they split the series), which was then coached by UNCG's current coach, Mike Dement.
More UNCG-Ivy: The Spartans have not won on an Ivy floor, losing to Cornell in their one opportunity, 78-56 on Jan. 8, 1990. UNCG's 76-65 win over Harvard was at Iona on Dec. 29, 1994 and the Spartans' 84-78 home win over Cornell was on Jan. 5, 1991.
A trend to end: Princeton's opponents have outshot the Tigers from the field in each of the last six games, all Tiger defeats.
New starters: Princeton had just its second starting lineup combination of the season against Lafayette, with Dan Mavraides in for Patrick Saunders and Marcus Schroeder in for Jason Briggs.
Get to the line: Princeton's opponents have taken more free throws than the Tigers in every game this season.
We're home: Princeton won't get on a bus again until the Dartmouth-Harvard trip at the end of January, with two more home games and the finals break after UNCG. Princeton hosts Lehigh Jan. 7 and the annual lower-division game Jan. 25 against Concordia (N.Y.).
Won vs. lost: In the two games Princeton has won this year, the Tigers are shooting .500 from the field. In the seven games lost, .392. From three-point range, Princeton his hitting 47.1% in its wins and 32.5% in its losses. Free-throw percentage between the two sets of games is also notably different, with Princeton making 77.4% of attempts in wins and 70% in losses.
Rebounding battle: Princeton hasn't won a game without also winning on the glass, going 2-3 when winning the rebounding battle this season.
Always boarding: Two Tigers have a rebound in each of the 10 games this season: Doug Davis and Pawel Buczak.
Steals: Against Central Connecticut State and Lafayette, Princeton had more steals than its opponents in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Tweet!: Princeton has been whistled for more fouls than its opponent in 9 of 10 games this season. The only time the opponent was called for more fouls was at Army Nov. 23, a Princeton win. Army was called for just one more foul than Princeton, 19-18.
Young reliable: The only Tiger to score points in every game this season is rookie Doug Davis, Princeton's leading scorer. The team's second-leading scorer, junior Pawel Buczak, has points in every game after the opener.
Someone's leaving happy: Princeton and UNCG will both bring losing streaks into Saturday's game. UNCG's stands at eight after its 75-53 loss to Akron Wednesday, and Princeton's is at six after its 54-53 loss at Lafayette Tuesday.
Jersey guys: UNCG and Princeton have the same number of players from the Garden State with one apiece. While Princeton's Pawel Buczak is from Moorestown in southern New Jersey, UNCG junior Pete Brown is from the Bergen County town of Emerson and is an alum of Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.).