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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men's Basketball Begins First Ivy Road Trip With Visit To Cornell
February 06, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Three men's basketball teams begin this Ivy League weekend unbeaten. Even though it's still early, how many end the weekend that way could have a lot to do with the face of this year's league race.
2-0 Princeton begins the weekend at Cornell (7 p.m. Friday, WPRB-FM 103.3, GoPrincetonTigers.com), the Ivy League preseason favorite which hasn't proven that prediction wrong with a 4-0 start to league play, including three straight road wins by an average margin of nearly 17 points per game. 2-0 Penn plays at Columbia and then at Cornell, so all three teams won't end the weekend unbeaten, though both Penn and Princeton could, or any of the three teams could do so by themselves, or none of them could be unbeaten.
Live streaming video of both the Cornell game and Saturday's game at Columbia will be available at the TigerZone at GoPrincetonTigers.com.
In any event, Princeton (5-12, 2-0) will need to reverse some trends in order to get its first 3-0 Ivy start since 2003-04. The Tigers have yet to win away from Jadwin Gym this season, and Cornell (12-5, 4-0) has won five of its last six against the Tigers after Princeton won 21 of the previous 22 games between the teams before that.
The Tigers used big late-game spurts on both Friday and Saturday last weekend to earn wins over Dartmouth and Harvard on their first Ivy weekend. Princeton outscored the Big Green 18-8 in the final 10 minutes Friday before a Dartmouth three-pointer with less than a second remaining; the Tigers outscored Harvard 20-5 in the last six minutes Saturday.
Sophomore guard Lincoln Gunn had 17 points in both games last weekend; all of his points came in the second half in the win over Harvard. Senior forward Kyle Koncz had a career-high 24 points against the Crimson; he scored 21 of those in the first half and made a season-high six three-point shots.
Cornell, which has won six straight games, features one of the league's top three-point threats and scorers in sophomore Ryan Wittman as well as classmate Louis Dale, the Ivy leader in assists and the national leader in free-throw percentage (95.2%).
Princeton's game at Columbia is a 7 p.m. tipoff Saturday night. The Tigers play seven of their next nine on the road before ending the year with three straight home games.
TODAY'S TIP-IN...
The Flip Side In its last eight games, Princeton is shooting 46% from the field, 36% from three-point range and is averaging 60.1 points per game. In their first nine games this season, the Tigers shot 39% from the field, 32% from three-point range and averaged 52.6 points per game.
LAYUPS...
0 and 0 Princeton's last Ivy League game in which both the Tigers and their opponent were undefeated through at least two league games came at Penn in February 2003.
About The Arc Princeton has allowed its opponents an Ivy League low 72 three-point shots. Cornell is ranked seventh nationally in three-point field-goal percentage as a team (41.4%).
Numbers Game Princeton has a 13-5 record all-time against Cornell at Newman Arena.
More About The Arc Lincoln Gunn and Kyle Koncz have combined to shoot 19 for 39 (49%) from three-point range in Princeton's last three games.
Top Gunn Lincoln Gunn is averaging 14.3 points per game and shooting 12 for 25 from three-point range in Princeton's last four games.
Finishing It Off Princeton outscored Harvard 20-5 in the last 5:40 Saturday. The Tigers had outscored Dartmouth 18-8 in the final 10 minutes before a Big Green three-pointer with less than one second left.
Making The Trip Beginning Friday, Princeton plays seven of its next nine games on the road before ending the year with three straight home games.
THE MID-RANGE GAME...
For Starters... Princeton last started its Ivy League season 3-0 in 2003-04, when the Tigers defeated Brown and Yale on the road and then Dartmouth at home.
Numbers Game Princeton can surpass its Ivy League victory total from last season with a victory against Cornell. The Tigers were 2-12 in league play a year ago.
A Quick Start Princeton led Cornell 9-0 three minutes into the game at Newman Arena last season but was outscored 55-26 in the final 37 minutes.
First In Line The Tigers have defeated the Big Red each of the last seven times that Cornell was the first game on Princeton's weekend road trip to Cornell and Columbia.
Up The Charts Kyle Koncz needs four three-point shots to move into eighth place all-time at Princeton. Current assistant coach Scott Greenman ?06 and C.J. Chapman '01 are currently tied for eighth with 139 career “threes.”
594 & 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 594 straight games.
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.
Tough Trip Princeton and Penn have hosted 156 Ivy League weekends since the league's current travel partner format was adopted in 1956-57. The Tigers and Quakers have combined to go 4-0 100 times and have never combined to go 0-4 or 1-3 on a home Ivy weekend.
The Company You Keep Princeton entered the 2007-08 season ranked 17th all-time in NCAA Division I with 1,533 victories.
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 (1989-2006).
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.
Shining Moments Princeton has made 23 NCAA tournament appearances. Only 22 Division I schools had made more appearances than the Tigers entering 2007-08.
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 17 times in 43 games in the past two seasons.
Filling It Up Kyle Koncz scored a career-high 24 points against Harvard Saturday. 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 76 career games, most of any player on the current Princeton roster.
It's About Experience Noah Savage is playing in his 100th career game tonight against Cornell.
Playing The Percentages Noah Savage is a 36% career shooter from three-point range and a 76% career shooter from the free-throw line.
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.
Record Breaker Zach Finley's seven blocked shots against Chaminade set a Maui Invitational record for blocks in a game.
A Perfect 10 Zach Finley made his first 10 shots in Princeton's season-opening win against Central Connecticut at Jadwin Gym Nov. 11.
Shooting Star Lincoln Gunn ranks sixth in the Ivy League in three-point field-goal percentage (41.9%).
Helping Out Lincoln Gunn has three or more assists 10 times in 17 games this season. His 47 assists this season lead the Tigers.
Return To Paradise Lincoln Gunn served as a ballboy while attending the Maui Invitational several times as a child while growing up in California.
Making The Most Of It Kevin Steuerer is second on the team with 32 assists despite averaging just 18 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.
Land O'Lake Sophomore Nick Lake is shooting 15 for 24 from the field this season (63%) and 7 for 13 from three-point range (54%)
Devil Of A Game Marcus Schroeder's season-high 12 points led Princeton against Arizona State. He also had four rebounds in that game.
Stepping Up Junior guard Jason Briggs played 25 minutes this past weekend in Princeton's wins over Dartmouth and Harvard, including a career-high 14 minutes against the Crimson. Briggs entered the game having played 34 career minutes.
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 has made seven three-point shots in 15 attempts this season and 17 of 33 shots overall (52%) in 13 games.