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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men's Basketball to Visit St. Bonaventure Saturday
December 04, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Princeton (2-3, 0-0 Ivy) at St. Bonaventure (3-3, 0-0 Atlantic 10)
Saturday, Dec. 6, 7 p.m., Reilly Center
Princeton Head Coach: Sydney Johnson (Second season, 8-26 at Princeton/Overall)
Radio: WPRB 103.3 (John Sadak, Play-by-Play)
All-Time Series: Tied 1-1 overall, 0-0 at St. Bonaventure
32-year absence: Princeton's home state of New Jersey shares a border with New York, of course, but the Tigers haven't been west of Ithaca and Syracuse in the Empire State since the last time they played St. Bonaventure, Dec. 29, 1976 in Rochester.
Your place or mine?: Princeton and St. Bonaventure have met twice before, both on neutral courts. The first was in an NCAA regional consolation game in Charlotte, N.C., which the Bonnies won 85-67. The last time was at the Kodak Classic final in Rochester, which Princeton won 59-55.
Three to start: Princeton has not won its first three games of the season on an opponent's floor since the start of the 1990-91 season. That year, Princeton did it at Cleveland State, Lafayette and Lehigh.
Starting streak: Princeton has used the same starting lineup for the first five games this season, its longest stretch of consistency since a nine-game streak last season. In his first season as head coach, Sydney Johnson selected the same five starters for the first 12 games last season. Though two are still on the team (Zach Finley and Marcus Schroeder), the current starting lineup has turned over completely from last season.
A-10 times two: Princeton has not played two Atlantic 10 teams in the same season since the 2001-02 campaign when the Tigers faced Saint Joseph's at a UC Berkeley-hosted tournament and George Washington at what is now the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
Princeton vs. the Atlantic 10: Counting only games in which the opponent was a member of the A-10 at the time, Princeton has a 15-17 record. Many of those games (19) were against Rutgers when it was a conference member from 1976-77 to 1994-95. The last time before the Fordham game this season that Princeton faced an A-10 team was Dec. 6, 2005, when Temple won at Jadwin Gym.
Sydney Johnson vs. the A-10: Sydney Johnson has a 4-2 record against A-10 teams between his time as a player and head coach at Princeton and as an assistant coach at Georgetown. He went 2-0 against Rutgers as a player, 1-1 against St. Joseph's as a player, 0-1 again Temple while at Georgetown and 1-0 against Fordham as Princeton's coach.
NCAA memories: Princeton has had its share of NCAA Tournament upsets and near-misses, the 1996 UCLA and 1989 Georgetown games most prominent. The last time St. Bonaventure was in the NCAA Tournament, it narrowly lost to Kentucky 85-80 in a game played at Cleveland State's home arena. Tayshaun Prince, who would later help the Detroit Pistons to a 2004 NBA title and the USA to 2008 Olympic gold, had a game-high 28 points for the Wildcats. St. Bonaventure has been to the NCAA Tournament four times, in 1961, 1968, 1978 and 2000. The head coach of the 2000 St. Bonaventure team was Jim Baron, who now coaches at Atlantic 10 rival Rhode Island.
Brought to you by...: Both buildings that have hosted Princeton-St. Bonaventure games still stand. The first, then called the Charlotte Coliseum (not the former home of the Charlotte Hornets), was renamed the Bojangles Coliseum last month after the southern chicken chain. The then-Rochester War Memorial, site of the 1976 Kodak Classic, is now the Blue Cross Arena.
On the road again: Both of Princeton's wins this season have come on the road, and both have come in the state of New York. Princeton has not won three in a row on the road in the same season (not counting neutral site games) since Nov. 27-Dec. 12, 2004 at Lafayette, Holy Cross and Monmouth.
Common foes: Princeton and St. Bonaventure share two common opponents, but neither have faced both teams yet. St. Bonaventure defeated Rutgers 64-63 in OT on Nov. 23 and Princeton will meet the Scarlet Knights on Dec. 10. Princeton defeated St. Bonaventure's fellow Atlantic 10 foe Fordham 73-61 on Nov. 26, and the Bonnies will face them Jan. 7 and Jan. 28.
Empire State triple play: Despite regularly playing against teams from New York, the Tigers have not won three in a row on the road from New York-based teams since a six-game win streak against Columbia and Cornell from 2002-04.
Threes down, accuracy up: This season, 38% of Princeton's field goal attempts are three-pointers, compared to a 47% share last season. This season, the Tigers have made 37.8% of their threes this season compared to 32.9% last season.
14 for 14: Nick Lake matched his jersey number with 14 points against Fordham for his first double-digit scoring game against a non-Ivy opponent. Lake previously had three double-digit scoring games, all against Ivy teams last season.
A rookie leads the way: Doug Davis has taken 60 shots this season, almost double the number of any of his teammates. The next closest Tiger is Dan Mavraides with 33. Last season, the three-person freshman class took 84 shots. In five games this season, Davis has taken more shots than any freshman did all last season as Kareem Maddox led the Class of 2011 in attempts with 57.
Nice accuracy: Doug Davis' 55.0% shooting percentage so far this season is better than any Tiger with more than 50 attempts had last season. Jason Briggs shot 56.0% from the field last year, going 28 for 50. Davis is 33 for 60 this season.
Davis for three: With 18.5% of Princeton's season already in the books, Doug Davis is on pace to make 65 threes this season. That would give him 10 more than team-leader Kyle Koncz had last season as a senior. Davis has hit a three-pointer in every game this season.
Better from the line: Princeton is shooting 76.2% from the line so far this season, better than the 69.8% finish of a season ago.
Davis in the NCAA rankings: When the NCAA stats came out following Sunday's games, Doug Davis' 50% shooting percentage from three-point range ranked 26th in all of Division I. It has since improved to 52.2% after making his only attempt against South Carolina. That percentage would have ranked 19th in the current standings.
Hold ?em: Princeton's opponents are averaging 58.8 points per game this season, down from 64.2 points per game at the end of last season.
10 or more: Four Tigers have reached double-digit point totals so far this season, with Doug Davis doing so in all five games. Nick Lake scored 14 against Fordham, two off his career high, while Pawel Buczak reached his career high in the same game with 13. Dan Mavraides has upped his career best twice, first with 13 against Maine and 15 against South Carolina.
Double-double?: A Tiger has yet to record a double-double this season, though some have come close. Kareem Maddox had 7 points and 10 rebounds against Maine, while Zach Finley had 9 points, 8 rebounds against Central Michigan and 8 and 8 against Maine. Nick Lake had 14 points and 9 rebounds at Fordham. Finley has the only double-double of any of the current Tigers, with 14 points and 11 rebounds last season against Seton Hall.
Staying close to home: No boarding passes needed this season, as Princeton will play all of its road games in New York, Pennsylvania or New England. By contrast, in Sydney Johnson's four seasons as a player at Princeton, the Tigers took 12 plane trips. The team also had three last season in his first campaign as head coach.
Can we claim residency?: Princeton will play six games in New York state this season. Two have already happened, to Army and Fordham, with another Saturday at St. Bonaventure. Princeton will return to the Empire State next weekend at Manhattan before returning to the state for the annual Columbia-Cornell trip in March. For good measure, the Tigers will play another New York team at home when it hosts Division II Concordia for the yearly pre-Ivy, post-finals refresher.
Tigers on the Worldwide Leader: Princeton will be on the ESPN family of networks twice this season, both on ESPNU, with the Jan. 3 game against UNC Greensboro and the Feb. 17 game against Penn.