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Men's Hoops: Five Questions Against Yale and Brown
February 16, 2016 | Men's Basketball
The showdown is set between the Ivy leader and the top contender Friday night when Yale, 8-0 in the Ivy, comes to Jadwin Gym to try and strengthen its grip on the title against Princeton, which is 6-1. Brown comes in Saturday night.
Friday vs. Yale, 7 p.m.: Video: Ivy League Digital Network | Radio: WPRB 103.3 FM (ILDN simulcast) & WPRB.com (Student) | Twitter: @putigers_live
Saturday vs. Brown, 6 p.m.: Video: Ivy League Digital Network | Radio: WPRB 103.3 FM (ILDN simulcast) & WPRB.com (Student) | Twitter: @putigers_live
1. Will Yale shoot as well as it did at home? The Bulldogs were 11 of 19 from 3-point range in the Jan. 30 meeting in New Haven, making 8 of their first 10 tries from distance to build a 48-34 lead early in the second half before Princeton mounted its comeback try. The Bulldogs, who had made more than nine 3-pointers only once all season before that game, were able to carry their hot streak into the following weekend, going 10 of 18 against Columbia and 12 of 23 against Cornell, also at home. Yale cooled off on the road last weekend, going 6 of 15 at Dartmouth and 3 of 11 at Harvard. That home-road split has been true on the season overall. At home, Yale shoots .444 from 3 (83 of 187 in 10 games) while shooting .323 (65 of 201 in 12 games) away from Lee.
2. Will Yale's Makai Mason reprise his role? Sophomore guard Makai Mason poured in 22 points on 5-of-6 shooting from 3 and 7 of 15 overall. Away from Lee, he's a .418 shooter from the field (.483 at home) but just a .280 shooter from 3 (.500 at home). In all, he's averaging 15.3 points a game away from Lee and 16.5 ppg at home. Mason scored 15 of his 22 points in the second half, none bigger than the 3-pointer he nailed to make it 78-72 Yale with 66 seconds to go. Princeton scored on just one of its final three possessions after that shot as Yale held on, 79-75.
3. What about the rest of the Bulldogs? The starters had almost all the impact for Yale against Princeton, scoring 76 of the 79 points and taking 51 of the 53 field goal tries while playing 155 of the 200 minutes. Yale started the same five (Justin Sears, Brandon Sherrod, Jack Montague, Makai Mason and Nick Victor) the following weekend as well, but Montague did not play last weekend and Anthony Dallier started in his place. Dallier played 35 minutes and scored 10 points in each of the games last weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard. With Dallier in the lineup, Yale used only three bench players - Blake Reynolds (against Harvard) or Eric Anderson (against Dartmouth), Sam Downey and Khaliq Ghani - in either game, with that trio scoring five points and playing 36 minutes against Dartmouth and scoring eight points in 45 minutes against Harvard. In the Princeton game, Montague hit three 3-pointers in 31 minutes and Dallier made two free throws while grabbing six rebounds in 25 minutes.
4. What could Princeton do differently against Yale this time? In the Jan. 30 game, The Tigers shot 43 percent from the field, 41 from 3 and made 16 of 22 (73 percent) of their free throws while getting outrebounded by just six. Yale had more turnovers, with 15 to Princeton's 13, but eight of those 13 came from Amir Bell, an unusually high number for the sophomore guard. Bell has a 54 to 32 assist-to-turnover ratio on the season and has turned the ball over more than twice in only two games this season, the Yale game and a 3-turnover night at Cornell last weekend. Clamping down on the defensive end would help the Tigers, as Yale's 53-percent clip from the field was its seventh-highest in a game this season and its 58 percent rate from 3 was its highest of the season. The Tigers could use another iffy free throw game for the Bulldogs, who made just 12 of 23 for a 52 percent clip that was their second-lowest of the season.
5. What can the Tigers replicate against Brown? A night before heading to New Haven last month, Princeton took care of Brown 83-59 in a game Princeton led by as many as 35 points. Princeton achieved that point total while having an off night from 3-point range, going just 5 of 23 (22 percent), but made up for it by taking care of business at the free-throw line (20-22), outrebounding the Bears 41-33 and committing just 10 turnovers while forcing 20 from Brown. The Bears shot just 35 percent both from the field and from 3. If the Tigers can replicate the positives while finding their stroke again from 3, where they shoot 41 percent at home, the numbers add up well for Princeton.