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Princeton University Athletics
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Men's Hoops: Five Takeaways from the Harvard-Dartmouth Weekend
February 08, 2016 | Men's Basketball
The Tigers kept pace in the Ivy League race with a weekend sweep of Harvard and Dartmouth. Here are five takeaways from the past weekend as we revisit the "Five Things to Look For" article from last week:
1. Home Sweet Home: Princeton improved to 8-0 at home this season with the sweep and ran its streak of Ivy League home weekends without being swept to 23 in a row. The Tigers are shooting .519 from the field at home and .405 from 3-point range (Opponents are .412/.374). Away from campus this season, the Tigers are shooting .413 and .346. The schedule the rest of the way has the Tigers at home for five of the last seven games after this weekend.
2. Perimeter, Contained: Though Harvard and Dartmouth had a higher shooting percentage than Princeton from beyond the arc (.480 to .472), the Tigers took and made more than twice as many 3-pointers. The Tiger canned 25 of 53 from distance while the Crimson and the Big Green combined to make 12 of 25.
3. Bigs vs. Guards: In Princeton's first two Ivy wins, forwards or centers led the opposition in scoring. In the lone loss, it was a guard. Saturday's win over Harvard broke that pattern, with guard Tommy McCarthy (16 points) edging out forward Agunwa Okolie (14 points). The pattern returned in Saturday's win, with Dartmouth's Evan Boudreaux (17 points) leading his team.
4. Cook!: Though Henry Caruso had 19 points against Harvard and 17 against Dartmouth, it was another junior, Steven Cook, who led the team in scoring both games this weekend. It was the third and fourth time he'd led the team in scoring in a game this season, as his 15 points led Princeton in the loss at Saint Joseph's back on Dec. 8 and his 14 points co-led the team in the post-finals game against Bryn Athyn. Cook's efforts not only led to two wins but also an Ivy League Co-Player of the Week honor. Cook led Princeton in scoring in seven games last season on the way to a second-team All-Ivy League honor.
5. Hold On to That Ball: After averaging 15.5 turnovers in the four games against Harvard and Dartmouth last year, the Tigers did indeed improve from that number this weekend, giving up only 12 against Harvard and 10 against Dartmouth. That's right in line with the 10.9 turnovers Princeton had been averaging on the season entering the weekend.