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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Henderson Talks Tigers in Ivy's Midseason Media Conference
January 15, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Mitch Henderson '98, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of men's basketball at Princeton, spoke with members of the media on the Ivy League's midseason media teleconference call Thursday. Comments from Henderson on the call are below:
Opening comments:
We're heading into a fairly lengthy break here (due to final exams). We're pleased with where we are now. We started off and had a really rough start, and also replacing what I think is a very good player in T.J. Bray ('14) and then losing Denton Koon for the season. I think we're hitting our stride when you're supposed to hit your stride. So I'm pleased to be where we are right now and hopefully we can keep getting better.
On junior Hans Brase:
He gets all the rebounds. He usually goes for them with two hands and I think that's just the main key; he's got a willingness to do it. He's a far better passer than I probably give him credit for. But what helps him so much is his shooting, because you have to come out and guard him. I think that this year, we've been able to move him around a little bit more and play some different positions, which has helped him in some big games for us.
On the upcoming game against Harvard on Jan. 30:
I think that they're strong and getting better. I saw some of their game last night (at Boston College). I think the league all across the board is very good. Harvard is our next league game, but there's nobody out there to me that has any sort of major weakness. In fact, I see a lot of strengths, so it's going to be a challenge going forward.
On the team's chemistry:
In terms of what we've gotten in the last month, I really like what's happening. We've got a little bit of a 'whose turn is it to score' mentality and a team-defense approach. We're going to go as far as our defense takes us. We're improving. We had really big games from two guys (Henry Caruso and Ben Hazel) who had not played a lot of significant minutes for us in our game against Penn. I'm pleased with the ability for guys to come off the bench and score for us and make valuable contributions. This is a fun team to coach and they want to get better, and as long as they continue with that mindset, we're going to be fine.
On sophomore Spencer Weisz:
I think Spencer saw what T.J. (Bray '14) was able to do a year ago and wants to replicate that. I think where he's had some trouble is valuing the ball, but he's really made big strides I think in the last three weeks like a lot of the guys have in terms of understanding what's going to make the team successful. In many ways, he's our best guy, but he's also our most consistent practice player. He brings so much to the table in terms of just the off-the-court stuff that it's hard to talk about Spencer without mentioning it. I thought in the beginning of the year, he might have been scoring too much and now I think he's giving us what he gave us last year. Last year as a freshman he had (two) double-doubles.
On sophomore Henry Caruso:
Henry brings so much to the table for us. I think we're a very good shooting team and Henry can also really shoot the ball well, but he's very good at getting himself to the basket, and I think once you hit league play, you have to demonstrate the ability to win games in a number of different ways. Henry gives us versatility and I think it's really going to help us. He's also not afraid and can get himself into situations where it causes problems for the other team. It's nice to have him on our side. That's the kind of player we saw out of him in high school. He's a worker. He's down here (in Jadwin Gym) all the time. He really cares about getting better. I'm happy for Henry. He didn't get a whole lot of time in the last month, but when we needed him, he really came through for us.