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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
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Dartmouth
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Men's Hoops Rolls Past Dartmouth, 71-43, Awaits Harvard Saturday (video)
March 06, 2010 | Men's Basketball
According to Sydney Johnson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of men's basketball, that wasn't the case Friday night in Jadwin Gym.
Against Dartmouth, the Tigers were solid from the start and kept it going the whole way in a 71-43 win.
The victory came 13 days after a three-point loss to Brown, which fell to 5-8 in the Ivy Friday night when it lost to Cornell to allow the Big Red to clinch the Ivy League's NCAA Tournament bid.
"I was a bit nervous myself because I think it reminded me of Brown where we led early and then kind of really stopped applying ourselves and stopped playing hard," Johnson said. "I thought that the guys played hard pretty much the entire game (tonight)."
Video: Sydney Johnson, Brendan Connolly and Douglas Davis in the postgame interview.
It was Princeton's largest victory over the Big Green (5-22, 1-12 Ivy) since 1999, but the Tigers have more work to do yet.
Still in the realm of possibilities for Princeton, which moved to 18-8 overall and 9-3 in the Ivy with the win, is the team's first 20-win season since 2004 and first season with more than 10 Ivy League victories, also since 2004.
Coming to Jadwin Gym Saturday night is Harvard, which held off Penn at The Palestra Friday night. The Tigers and the Crimson are tied in the Ivy loss column at three apiece, making Princeton's next game a battle for Ivy runner-up heading into the regular-season finale against Penn Tuesday.
"Our energy has to be terrific," Johnson said of the coming game against Harvard. "It's a big game for us at home and we've got to continue to have good efforts."
The win over Dartmouth saw contributions from tried and true sources, with Douglas Davis pitching in 15 points and Patrick Saunders adding 11. It was also a night that saw all 15 Tigers get into the game for the first time all season.
At certain points in the second half, Princeton had four freshmen on the floor from its five-member class.
The tallest member of that class, center Brendan Connolly, had a career-high eight points on 4-for-6 shooting in the paint.
While it afforded the Tiger faithful a possible glimpse into the future, the rookies are a work in progress.
"It was a lot of fun to be out there with those guys. We've been working a lot," Connolly said. "After last weekend we got together a lot and worked on our game together. I think we're starting to build some class chemistry. It's not perfect yet."
Princeton's season, though a great improvement from recent years past, has not been perfect either. But regarding both the rookie class and the waning 2010 campaign, both still have ample opportunity to grow.