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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Columbia Visits To Begin Final Home Weekend For Men's Basketball
March 06, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Princeton will play its final three games of the season at home, all of which come against teams that enter this weekend above .500 in Ivy League play. Third-place Columbia begins that stretch Friday night at 7:30, followed by a visit from Ivy League champion Cornell Saturday night and the annual regular-season finale against Penn Tuesday night.
Live video for both Friday and Saturday will be available at the TigerZone at GoPrincetonTigers.com, while Tuesday's Penn game will be televised by ESPNU for the third straight year. As always, free live audio will be available at GoPrincetonTigers.com.
The Tigers finally return home after two straight weekends on the road and seven of their last nine games overall away from Jadwin Gym. Princeton lost close games to Brown and Yale last weekend.
Senior forward Noah Savage is averaging 18 points for Princeton in his last four games. Savage made seven of his 12 three-point attempts for the Tigers in last weekend's games.
Columbia is 7-5 in Ivy play heading into its final two games, one-half game ahead of Penn and two games behind second-place Brown. Senior forward John Baumann is ranked second in the league in scoring (15.9 ppg), rebounding (6.8 rpg) and field-goal percentage (51.2%).
TODAY'S TIP-IN...
The Final Three Princeton's final three games come against the Ivy League champion in Cornell and two of the other three teams that enter the weekend above .500 in the league standings in Columbia (7-5) and Penn (6-5).
LAYUPS...
Makin' Em Blue Princeton has defeated Columbia 14 consecutive seasons at Jadwin Gym (1994-2007). 10 of those victories over the Lions since 1994 have come by double-digit margins.
Who Says You Can't Go Home? The Tigers play their final three games at home after playing seven of their previous nine games on the road.
Home Court Advantage In their last five home games, the Tigers have three wins and were just seconds away from another win before falling to Brown in overtime.
Accepting Charity Princeton is shooting 83% from the foul line (62 for 75) in its last four games.
Noah's Arc Noah Savage is averaging 18 points per game for Princeton in his last four games. Savage made seven of his 12 three-point attempts last weekend against Brown and Yale.
Nick Of Time Nick Lake scored 30 points for Princeton in two games last weekend. Lake had 44 points in 20 previous appearances this season.
Half and Half Zach Finley is leading the Ivy League field-goal percentage (51.6%). He is one of just two players averaging at least four field goals per game shooting better than 50% from the field.
FROM WAY DOWNTOWN...
603 & 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 603 straight games.
Up The Charts Noah Savage and Kyle Koncz are currently tied for sixth place all-time at Princeton with 152 career three-pointers.
Up The Charts 2 Noah Savage and Kyle Koncz each need four three-pointers to pass Bob Scrabis '89, who currently ranks fifth all-time at Princeton with 155 career three-point shots.
Up The Charts 3 Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson '97 ranks fourth on Princeton's all-time list with 162 career three-point shots.
Up The Charts 4 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).
Deep Thoughts Princeton made nine three-pointers at Yale Saturday, the eighth time in 26 games the Tigers have made at least nine “threes” in a game this year.
THE MID-RANGE GAME...
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.
Hoya Saxa Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson was an assistant coach at Georgetown in 2007, when the Hoyas went to the Final Four.
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.
History Lesson Cornell will represent the Ivy League in the NCAA tournament in 2008. Either Princeton (nine times) or Penn (10 times) had represented the Ivy League in the NCAA tournament 19 consecutive seasons (1989-2007).
Us Or Them Princeton has won 25 Ivy League titles; Penn has won 25 Ivy championships. The other six Ivy League schools have combined to win 11 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 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 Baseball 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 51 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 missed the Dartmouth game Feb. 23 due to a hip injury but returned to the starting lineup Feb. 29 at Brown.
For Starters... Noah Savage has started 85 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 38% 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 57% from the field (39 for 69) in Ivy League games. He would rank second in the Ivy League in that category with five 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 16 times in 26 games this season. His 81 assists this season lead the Tigers.
No Sophomore Slump Lincoln Gunn is shooting 35% 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 (50 assists, 29 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.
Land O'Lake Sophomore Nick Lake is shooting 25 for 49 from the field this season (51%) and 11 for 27 from three-point range (41%).
Stepping Up Junior guard Jason Briggs has averaged 16 minutes per game in Princeton's 11 Ivy League games. Briggs is shooting 57% from the field (16 for 28) and 5 for 9 from three-point range in Ivy League play.
Dan The Man Freshman Dan Mavraides made his first career start at Dartmouth, scoring eight points. Mavraides attended prep school in New Hampshire at Exeter during the 2006-07 school year.
Tall Tales 6-10 center Pawel Buczak has played in nine of Princeton's 11 Ivy League games. He has nine points and six rebounds in those nine games.