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PU men's basketball team is in must-win mode
Tigers hope to rebound against explosive forwards
By Justin Feil
The Packet Group
Friday, Feb. 11, 2000
Coming off its first Ivy League loss of the season, the Princeton University men's basketball team knows exactly what a hole it has dug. The Tigers are 11-8 overall and 3-1 in Ivy play — one game behind undefeated Pennsylvania.
"You can't have any more slip-ups," PU center Chris Young said. "We're all pretty disappointed with how we played. We watched a lot of film, and every one of us can look back on plenty of things we did wrong in that game. We could have played harder.
"It's very disappointing to be 3-1 going into this weekend. We definitely have to go 10-0 to win this thing, but we have to take it one game at a time."
And so it has already come to this — one must-win game at a time for the Tigers. Princeton hosts Dartmouth 7:30 tonight before Harvard visits Jadwin Gym 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Both teams have struggled, and find themselves all but out of the Ivy race barring a monumental reversal of fortune by Penn and Princeton.
Dartmouth, a preseason upset favorite, is just 6-13 overall and 2-4 in the Ivy League. The Big Green have dropped eight of their past 10 games, but their two wins came in last weekend's sweep of Columbia and Cornell. With a win, Dartmouth could burst Princeton's Ivy hopes.
"I think they're a pretty good team," Princeton head coach Bill Carmody said. "What you have to do is jump on them and let them remember that they lost four games. If you let them hang around, they might forget that."
Harvard is just 3-3 in Ivy play, having lost four of its last five games and 8-11 overall. But the Crimson's star forward, Dan Clemente, returned last weekend from a detached retina injury that threatened to end his season in early December. He scored 24 points in each game.
Clemente will be the second solid forward the Tigers face in two days. Dartmouth's Shaun Gee is second in the Ivy League in scoring with an 18.7 points per game average.
"It's a major problem this weekend," Carmody said. "On each team, you have a 6-foot-7 who's explosive. How do we guard that guy? Do we put a bigger guy on him or a smaller guy? We might even put Chris on him. These two guys mean a lot to their teams."
Princeton expects to have freshman Spencer Gloger, who has practiced minimally this week, back for at least part of the weekend, but the Tigers, who have been decimated by injuries, will probably trot out the same starting lineup as last weekend. Carmody is mulling over starting Eugene Baah, whose thigh contusion stiffens up when he sits on the bench. Mason Rocca had his cast removed and he "dribbled up and down the court a couple times. Not much else. He shot a few hook shots," Carmody said Wednesday. Nate Walton will play again this weekend despite a broken bone in his hand that is still healing.
"We've lost one player from last year," Dartmouth head coach Dave Faucher said. "I don't know many programs in the country that could take the hit (Princeton has) and sustain the winning."
Young, at 13.6 points per game, is the only starter averaging double digits for Princeton and the only Tiger player to start every game this season. Ray Robins has averaged 13.8 points per game since he moved into the starting lineup five games ago. And last weekend, Mike Bechtold became the ninth different Princeton player to start. That Princeton has continued to win and remain in the upper echelon of the Ivy League is a tribute to the reserves and the Princeton system.
"Coach has told us that a lot of it is the players," Young said. "We all play for Princeton, we all belong at Princeton. Any one of us is capable of stepping in and doing the job. We all try hard at Princeton. We'll always be prepared for game situations. Maybe the system does make it easier. But we definitely have the talent level to do that as well."
Princeton has won 36 consecutive home games against Ivy schools other than Penn. This weekend, they can add two more — two more must-win games if Princeton is to stay in the Ivy League race.
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