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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men's Basketball Begins Final Ivy Road Weekend With Trip To Brown
February 28, 2008 | Men's Basketball
The Princeton men's basketball team looks to avenge an overtime loss to Brown at Jadwin Gym less than two weeks ago when the Tigers visit the Pizzitola Center in Providence Friday night for a 7 p.m. game. Audio for the game will be available on an internet-only basis at GoPrincetonTigers.com. Live video for the game is available here.
The Tigers (5-19, 2-7 Ivy), led by a career-best 35 points from senior Noah Savage, led Brown (15-9, 7-3 Ivy) for much of the game at Jadwin Gym Feb. 16 before the Bears made a late comeback to tie it and then win 65-63 in overtime. Princeton had chances to win the game both at the end of regulation and the end of overtime.
Senior Kyle Koncz was named to the Ivy League Honor Roll on Monday, despite the fact that he missed Saturday's game at Dartmouth due to a hip injury suffered against Harvard. He had 14 points and 10 rebounds against the Crimson, the second time in his last three games he recorded a "double-double."
Princeton plays at Yale Saturday night; game time for that matchup has been moved to 8 p.m. The Tigers will play their final three games of the season at home beginning March 7 against Columbia.
TODAY'S TIP IN...
We're Comin' Home Princeton plays its final away games of the 2007-08 season this weekend at Brown and Yale. The Tigers will have played seven of their last nine games on the road after tomorrow's game against the Bulldogs.
LAYUPS...
Almost There Princeton led Brown from the 12-minute mark in the first half to the 44-second mark in the second half Feb. 16 at Jadwin Gym. The Tigers never led in overtime in that game.
Almost There 2 Princeton led Brown by 10 points with 8:42 left in the second half at Jadwin Gym Feb. 16 but made just two field goals in the final eight minutes of regulation.
Accepting Charity Princeton made 24 straight free throws in a three-game stretch Feb. 16-23.
Filling It Up Noah Savage scored 35 points for Princeton against Brown Feb. 16, the most points by a Princeton player since Kevin “Moon” Mullin had 38 against San Diego in the 1984 NCAA tournament.
Double Trouble Kyle Koncz has had two “double-doubles” for Princeton in his last three games. Koncz did not play at Dartmouth after sustaining a hip injury a night earlier at Harvard.
Half and Half Zach Finley is shooting 54% in Ivy League play and 51% from the field overall. He ranks second in the conference in overall field-goal percentage.
Taking Care Of It Marcus Schroeder has 26 assists and just nine turnovers in Ivy League play. Schroeder started at Dartmouth for the first time since Dec. 30 at Monmouth.
THE MID-RANGE GAME...
601 & Counting Princeton is one of only three Division I teams (Vanderbilt and UNLV are the others) to have made at least one three-point shot in every one of its games since the rule took effect for the 1986-87 season. The Tigers have now made at least one three-pointer in 601 straight games.
More About Savage Noah Savage's 35 points against Brown were the most by a Princeton player in Jadwin Gym since Geoff Petrie had 39 against Fordham in 1970. The Jadwin Gym record for points is 40, set by Monmouth's Rahsaan Johnson in 2001.
Up The Charts Kyle Koncz is currently sixth all-time at Princeton with 150 career three-pointers. He needs six “threes” to move past Bob Scrabis '89 into fifth place.
Up The Charts 2 Noah Savage is now in seventh place all-time at Princeton with 145 career three-point shots. He had a career-best seven “threes” against Brown Feb. 16.
Threes From Three Kyle Koncz, Lincoln Gunn and Noah Savage have combined for 127 of Princeton's 171 three-point shots this year.
Home Front All five of Princeton's victories this season have come at home, including two on its opening Ivy weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard.
FROM WAY DOWNTOWN...
Remembering VBK The Tigers are wearing a “VBK” patch on their uniforms in 2007-08 in honor of former coach Butch van Breda Kolff, who passed away last August. van Breda Kolff led the Tigers to the 1965 Final Four and had a 103-31 record in five seasons at Princeton.
Aloha & Mahalo Princeton was the first Ivy League team to play in the Maui Invitational. The Tigers played Duke, Arizona State and host Chaminade at that tournament Nov. 19-21.
Deep Thoughts Three of Princeton's four coaches rank in the top 10 all-time at Princeton in career three-point shots (Earl, 1st; Johnson, 4th; Greenman, 10th).
The Company You Keep Princeton entered the 2007-08 season ranked 17th all-time in NCAA Division I with 1,533 victories.
Shining Moments Princeton has made 23 NCAA tournament appearances. Only 22 Division I schools had made more appearances than the Tigers entering 2007-08.
Us Or Them Either Princeton (nine times) or Penn (10 times) has been the Ivy League's NCAA tournament representative in each of the last 19 seasons (1989-2007).
Us Or Them 2 Princeton has won 25 Ivy League titles; Penn has won 25 Ivy championships. The other six Ivy League schools have combined to win 10 league crowns.
Branching Out Six Princeton graduates or former Princeton assistant coaches are currently Division I head coaches. (Bill Carmody, Northwestern; Craig Robinson '83, Brown; Joe Scott '87, Denver; John Thompson '88, Georgetown; Chris Mooney '94, Richmond; Sydney Johnson '97, Princeton).
The Worldwide Leader Princeton will appear on national television on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU at least six times this season.
Princeton In The Pros Two recent Princeton graduates play in Italy's top division. Mason Rocca '00 plays for Napoli and also played for the Italian national team in the 2006 FIBA World Championships, while Judson Wallace '05 plays for Capo D'Orlando after two seasons playing in Germany.
More Princeton in the Pros Former Tiger basketball star Chris Young '02 played in the Major League All-Star game in 2007. The San Diego Padres' starting pitcher led the National League in earned run average for much of the 2007 season.
Even More Princeton in the Pros Head coach Sydney Johnson played seven seasons of professional basketball in Italy and Spain after graduating from Princeton. His teams won three league championships in those seven seasons.
PLAYER NOTES & ANECDOTES
Bombs Away Kyle Koncz has made at least three three-point shots 19 times in 49 games in the past two seasons.
Filling It Up Kyle Koncz scored a career-high 24 points against Harvard Feb. 2 at Jadwin Gym. He scored 21 of those points in the first half.
Toughing It Out Kyle Koncz did not practice after Jan. 1 last season due to a stress fracture in his foot but still played in 26 games and led the Tigers in scoring.
For Starters... Noah Savage has started 83 career games, most of any player on the current Princeton roster.
It's About Experience Noah Savage played in his 100th career game Feb. 8 at Cornell.
Playing The Percentages Noah Savage is a 37% career shooter from three-point range and a 77% career shooter from the free-throw line.
Leader Of The Pack Zach Finley led Princeton in scoring during the non-conference season. Finley averaged 11.1 points per game in those 15 games.
Filling It Up Zach Finley is shooting 54% from the field (34 for 63) in Ivy League games. He would rank third in the Ivy League in that category with two more made field goals.
Swatting Them Zach Finley's seven blocks against Chaminade were the most by a Princeton player since Chris Young had seven against Xavier on Dec. 27, 1999.
Helping Out Lincoln Gunn has three or more assists 14 times in 24 games this season. His 71 assists this season lead the Tigers.
No Sophomore Slump Lincoln Gunn is shooting 37% from three-point range as a sophomore after shooting 29% from behind the arc as a freshman.
Return To Paradise Lincoln Gunn served as a ballboy while attending the Maui Invitational several times as a child while growing up in California.
Twice As Nice Marcus Schroeder has a nearly 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio this season (49 assists, 26 turnovers).
Making The Most Of It Kevin Steuerer is third on the team with 44 assists despite averaging just 21 minutes per game this season.
History Lesson Kevin Steuerer's father Mickey was a team captain for the 1974-1975 Princeton team that won the NIT, the only Ivy League team to have won a postseason national tournament.
Stepping Up Junior guard Jason Briggs has averaged 15 minutes per game in Princeton's nine Ivy League games. Briggs earned his first career start Feb. 16 against Brown, playing six minutes in that game.
Land O'Lake Sophomore Nick Lake is shooting 16 for 30 from the field this season (53%) and 7 for 16 from three-point range (44%)
Stritt Talk 6-8 Michael Strittmatter made 22 of his 50 three-point attempts last season. He was leading the Ivy League in three-point percentage for much of the season.
On Guard Matt Sargeant, who has missed three Ivy League games due to injury, has made seven three-point shots in 15 attempts this season and 17 of 33 shots overall (52%) in 13 games.