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Princeton receives second straight NIT bid
Tigers to take on Penn State in first round game on road
For Packet OnLine
Sunday, March 12, 2000
The Princeton men's basketball team didn't get invited to the Big Dance this year. But at least it got a post-season date. For the second straight year, the Tigers will be playing in the National Invitation Tournament.
Princeton will take on Penn State (15-15) in a first-round game at University Park, Pa., Wednesday night at 7:30. Penn State lost eight of its last nine regular season games before winning two straight in the Big Ten Tournament, defeating Michigan and upsetting No. 4 Ohio State, 71-66.
The Nittany Lions lost to Illinois in Saturday's Big Ten semifinal, 94-84. Illinois will be Penn's first-round opponent in the NCAAs.
Penn State is led by Joe Crispin, a 6-1 junior guard, and Jarrett Stephens, a 6-7, 255-pound senior forward. Both are averaging 18.7 points per game. Stephens, a first-team Big Ten selection, leads the team in rebounding with 10.7 per game.
The rest of the starting five includes Titus Ivory (12.9 ppg), a 6-4 junior guard; Jon Crispin (9.2 ppg), a 6-2 freshman guard; and Gyasi Cline-Heard (6.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg), a 6-7 forward.
The winner of the Princeton-Penn State game will play the winner of Siena vs. Massachusetts at a time and place to be determined later. The other teams in the Princeton bracket are Rutgers, Kent, Villanova and Delaware.
Other teams in the tournament include: North Carolina State (17-12), Notre Dame (18-14), Xavier (20-11), Wake Forest (17-14), Virginia (19-11), Tulane (20-10), Vanderbilt (19-10), N.C.-Charlotte (17-15), Mississippi (17-13), Marquette (15-13), Bowling Green (22-7), New Mexico State (17-13), California (16-14), Long Beach State (24-5), Arizona State (18-12), Brigham Young (20-10), South Florida (17-13), New Mexico (17-13), Southern Illinois (19-12), Colorado (18-13), Southern Methodist (21-8) and Southwest Missouri State (22-10).
Penn State and Princeton played two common opponents this year — Bucknell and Penn. The Tigers lost to Penn twice while Penn State defeated the Quakers, 59-56. Both teams beat Bucknell — Princeton 50-48 and Penn State 67-63.
"This is what you're in it for, a chance to keep playing," Princeton sophomore center Chris Young said. "They just knocked
off Ohio State. They have shown that they can compete at a very high level.
"They're playing tough teams every night," he said. "The Big Ten is definitely the best conference in basketball this year. Penn State's record is deceiving. They're playing against top 20 teams all year. It should be a lot of fun.
"I feel good about going there (Bryce Jordan Center)," said Young, who was named first-team all-Ivy on Friday. "It's a fun environment to play basketball in. It should be a good game for people to watch.
"We have a little experience from last year. It will help out," he said. "We're young, though, so I don't know how much it helps. Obviously this is a good draw for us, getting to play a Big Ten team. I
imagine it will be tough. With less time (to prepare), our style of play
probably makes it tougher for them to prepare."
In last year's NIT, Princeton defeated Georgetown, 54-47, at Jadwin, and N.C. State, 61-58, on the road before falling to Xavier, 65-58, at Cincinnati Gardens, where the Musketeers won their 17th straight game. The Tigers had a 15-point lead early in the second half before Xavier stormed back.
Princeton's appearance in the NIT last year was its first since 1975, when it won the NIT championship by defeating Providence, 80-69. Led by co-captains Armond Hill and Mickey Steuerer, the team finished 22-8 that year, 12-2 in the league. Penn finished 13-1 and won the Ivy title for the sixth consecutive year.
The following season, again led by Hill and Steuerer, the Tigers went 14-0 in the Ivy League and finished 22-5. After winning 18 of its last 19 regular season games, losing only to Rutgers, Princeton fell to the Scarlet Knights again, 54-53, in the first round of the NCAA.
Princeton last year became the first Ivy League team to play in the post-season NIT since Penn in 1981. The Quakers fell to West Virginia, 67-64, in the first round.
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