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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Back in New Jersey, Men's Hoops Readies for Rutgers Thursday
December 01, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Princeton (2-3, 0-0 Ivy) at Rutgers (3-2, 0-0 Big East)
Thursday, Dec. 3 at Rutgers' Louis Brown Athletic Center, 7:30 p.m.
Princeton Head Coach: Sydney Johnson (third season, Princeton '97, 21-40 overall & at Princeton)
Radio: WPRB 103.3 FM & GoPrincetonTigers.com (John Sadak, Play-by-Play)
All-Time Series: Princeton leads 72-43, 28-25 at Rutgers
Streak: Overall - Rutgers, 4; at Rutgers, 4
Live Stats | Live Audio
Last game (11/29/09): at California 81, Princeton 60
Last time vs. Rutgers (12/10/08): Rutgers 49, at Princeton 44
Last game's starters:
20 Douglas Davis, So., G: 12 points at Cal were most since 16 in season opener
21 Marcus Schroeder, Sr., G: Season-high six rebounds at Cal
22 Patrick Saunders, So., F: 26 of season's 28 points have come in last two games
33 Dan Mavraides, Jr., F: Season-low five points in 18 minutes at Cal
55 Pawel Buczak, Sr., C: Held scoreless for the first time this season at Cal, but had season-high 3 assists
Princeton stats: 2009-10 Stats
Individual game-by-game: 11 Foley | 12 Barrett | 14 Lake | 15 Comfort | 20 Davis | 21 Schroeder | 22 Saunders | 23 Maddox | 24 Finley | 33 Mavraides | 34 Hummer | 52 Connolly | 55 Buczak
Individual career stats can be found on each player's roster page.
Rutgers' last game: Florida 73, Rutgers 58 (at Atlantic City)
Rutgers links: Rutgers men's basketball page | Rutgers game notes
Outside reading: Associated Press | Contra Costa Times | Local Examiner | San Francisco Chronicle | Daily Princetonian | Daily Californian
Last time out: California scored 20 of the first 25 points and led Princeton the whole way in an 81-60 win Sunday afternoon in Berkeley. The Bears used a 37-20 rebounding edge, holding the Tigers without an offensive rebound for the first 36 minutes.
Last meeting vs. Rutgers: Only Dan Mavraides, with 11 points, was in double digits for Princeton when the Tigers lost to Rutgers 49-44 on Dec. 10, 2008 in Jadwin Gym. The Knights' Gregory Echenique had a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards, leading a 36-28 rebounding edge. Rutgers took 24 free throws to Princeton's four in that game, making 17, and held the Tigers scoreless for the last 3:55 after a 44-44 tie. The game came in the midst of a six-game losing streak for Princeton before the Tigers were able to turn it around and win seven straight.
The series: Princeton leads Rutgers 73-42 all-time, but the Knights have won nine of the last 10 games under the last three Princeton coaches. Princeton's last win over Rutgers came on Dec. 8, 2004 when Judson Wallace picked up a double-double with 18 points and 11 boards. The last time the Tigers won at Rutgers was on Dec. 12, 1999, a 66-60 overtime victory.
Johnson vs. Rutgers (7-2): In his tenure as a player at Princeton and assistant coach at Georgetown, Sydney Johnson knew only wins against Rutgers, going a combined 7-0. Since assuming the head coaching position at Princeton, Johnson's teams have lost both meetings, but by a combined nine points.
Rookies up: Princeton's freshmen had a big afternoon against Cal, as Ian Hummer and Will Barrett combined for 22 points. Brendan Connolly made his season debut against the Bears, playing eight minutes. Hummer's 13 points and Barrett's nine points were both career bests.
Inside game: Princeton started two centers, Pawel Buczak and Zach Finley, in each of the first three games. In that time, the two centers combined for 53 points. At George Washington and Cal, when only Buczak started, the two combined for seven points. Though the Tigers didn't get much inside against GW, Ian Hummer showed promise against Cal as an interior player with his 6-for-11 shooting for 13 points, one off the team lead against the Bears.
Soaring Saunders: Patrick Saunders has heated up in the last two games, scoring 26 of his 28 points on the season against GW and Cal. In the season's first three games, of which Saunders only played the last two, the sophomore took three shots, making one. In the last two, Saunders is 10 for 15 from the field and 5 for 9 from three-point range. Against Cal, while scoring his career-high 14 points, Saunders also added two blocked shots.
Back in the lineup: Douglas Davis has started the last two games after coming in as a reserve for the first three. His points per game have been quite similar between the two sets of games, with 9.7 when coming off the bench and 10.0 when starting. The bench points came in fewer minutes per game, 18.7 when off the bench and 35.5 as a starter. Davis' turnovers have been way down as a starter, giving up 11 in 56 minutes off the bench and three in 71 minutes as a starter.
Scoring to boarding: Marcus Schroeder was held scoreless for the first time this season at Cal after his points had increased through the first four games. He did, however, have a season-high six rebounds at Cal and is now Princeton's leading rebounder at 3.6 rpg.
Quick work: Kareem Maddox played a season-high six minutes at Cal and made the most of it, hitting 2 of 3 field goals, including a three-pointer, and getting a steal.
Up and down: Zach Finley has played just five minutes in each of the last two games after averaging 18.3 minutes in the first three games. The senior big man saw his minutes fluctuate greatly last season as well, though. In the first six Ivy games last year, Finley played an average of 11.7 minutes per game. In the next five Ivy games, he played 23.4 minutes before averaging 7.7 minutes in the season's final three contests.
More up and down: Dan Mavraides scored 14.3 points per game in the first three games, but followed that with averaging 6.5 over the last two games. Mavraides' rebounds were down from 4.3 over the first three to 2.0 over the last two. A season ago, Mavraides was able to warm up after cooling down, stretching his 14 double-digit scoring games over the season's last 26 contests.
Still going: Sophomore Douglas Davis and freshman Ian Hummer are the only current Tigers to have played in and scored in every game of their careers. Davis' streak is at 32 games and Hummer's is at five.
Bears stop Buczak: Pawel Buczak was held scoreless for just the third time in the last two seasons, ending a 14-game streak. Buczak's two scoreless games last season were in the season opener of '08-'09 against Central Michigan and at Yale, both of which were also Princeton losses like Cal.
Back on target: Against Cal, Princeton had its best shooting day (42.0 percent) since the season opener against Central Michigan (58.5 percent), the last time the team broke .400 from the floor. It also had its best three-point shooting game since the opener at 46.7 percent after hitting at and below 30 percent in the last three games. Princeton's free-throw percentage against Cal, 84.6 percent, was a season-best.
More good than harm: Princeton had its first positive assist-to-turnover ratio of the season against Cal, 14 assists to 13 turnovers. The 27-turnover Army game has shown to be an anomaly thus far, with the Tigers turning it over between 12 and 14 times in each of the other four games.
Boarding: Princeton had a positive rebounding margin in each of the first three games but has seen its opponent dominate the glass in the last two, with Princeton's foe holding a +17 rebounding edge each against GW and Cal.
Not from downtown: After taking 31 three pointers against Army and 26 against GW, Princeton took only 15 shots at Cal, despite having its second-most field goal attempts of the season (50). In the Central Michigan, Manhattan and Cal games, between 27 and 34 percent of Princeton's shots were threes. Against Army and GW, the percentages were 63 and 50, respectively.
Tigers from the Line
| Player |
Season |
Career |
| 3 Sherburne | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 11 Foley |
0-0 |
0-1 (.000) |
| 12 Barrett | 5-6 (.833) | 5-6 (.833) |
| 14 Lake |
2-2 (1.000) |
29-38 (.763) |
| 15 Comfort |
0-0 |
5-8 (.625) |
| 20 Davis |
10-10 (1.000) |
41-51 (.804) |
| 21 Schroeder |
6-6 (1.000) |
82-107 (.766) |
| 22 Saunders |
1-1 (1.000) |
31-38 (.816) |
| 23 Maddox |
2-2 (1.000) |
63-75 (.840) |
| 24 Finley |
13-16 (.813) |
86-140 (.614) |
| 33 Mavraides |
13-16 (.813) |
74-92 (.804) |
| 34 Hummer | 8-15 (.533) | 8-15 (.533) |
| 40 Gabel | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 41 Darrow | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 52 Connolly | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| 55 Buczak |
4-8 (.500) |
40-67 (.597) |
Rebounds: 1 at California (11/29/09)
Assists: 2 at California (11/29/09)
Steals: 0
Blocks: 0
Three-Pointers: 0
Free Throws: 0
Minutes: 8 at California (11/29/09)