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Ivy hopes on line for Princeton Tuesday night
Rocca will play through pain in crucial matchup with Penn
Senior Mason Rocca returned to the Princeton University lineup and sparked the Tigers to a pair of Ivy League wins this past weekend.
Staff photo by Frank Wojciechowski
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By Justin Feil
Princeton Packet Sports Writer
Monday, Feb. 14, 2000
It's been slightly over a year since the miracle at the Palestra in Philadelphia when the Princeton University men's basketball team rallied from 27 points down in the second half to defeat Pennsylvania, 50-49.
The euphoria of that moment was tempered when the Tigers dropped the very next game to Yale and Penn went on to win the rest of its Ivy League games — including the regular season finale at Jadwin Gym, 73-48, in Princeton's worst home loss at the gym.
This season, Princeton, 13-8 overall and 5-1 in Ivy play, already has fallen one game behind Penn, 13-7 and 6-0, with its loss to Yale two weekends ago. It is up to the Tigers now to run the table to dethrone the Quakers.
It starts 7:30 p.m. Tuesday when Penn returns to sold-out Jadwin to take on Princeton.
"Our backs are definitely against the wall," Princeton's Mason Rocca said. "I don't know if that helps us. You could look at it two ways. Maybe they won't play with as much pressure on them and maybe they'll do well. We know we have to win. Even if we hadn't lost to Yale, we'd still have to win, so that hasn't changed too much."
The Tiger co-captain returned to action this weekend for the first time since he had surgery to repair bone spurs and bone chips in his ankle Dec. 29. He played 11 minutes against Dartmouth on Friday and scored nine points, led the team with five rebounds and boosted the team's energy level in a 72-47 dismantling of the Big Green.
The following evening at Jadwin, Rocca played 19 minutes and scored seven points to go with a single offensive rebound as Princeton handled Harvard, 73-55, to set up tonight's showdown. Rocca just hopes he can make it through as much of the game as is necessary after having barely over a week of conditioning.
"Thank goodness for TV timeouts," Rocca joked. "I definitely know when those are coming — every four minutes."
Though he may not be in tip-top shape, his minutes, which coach Bill Carmody speculated would not be more than the 19 against Harvard, hinges primarily on his ankle, which had the cast removed from it only last Monday.
"It's not real good," Rocca confessed. "It started bothering me quite a bit in the end of the first half (against Harvard) and then in the second half. I saw a doctor (Sunday), and it's just tendonitis in my ankle. I re-aggravated it. It's not serious, but it's painful.
"It's hard to say how long I'll play. The Kansas game this year was the one game it got to me, and it showed because I was hurting the team out there. If it doesn't bother me that much, I'll keep playing."
However long Rocca can stay on the court has been a big help for the Tigers, who are 7-2 in games he has played, 6-6 in games he hasn't. Whatever he gives will be done at his normal full-speed effort, which is slightly slowed by the ankle.
"It's tough for me to go on a full-out sprint," he said. "I had three drives in the first half and I went off my left for all of them. Jumping and sprinting is what aggravates it. It does limit me, but to what extent, it's hard to say."
But Rocca, who is averaging 11.9 points per game, won't have to do everything by himself. Other Tiger players appear to be peaking just in time for the second half of the Ivy year. Point guard Ahmed El-Nokali had a career-high 15 points against Dartmouth. He then came back against Harvard with 13 points and an even more impressive defensive effort against the Crimson's point guards.
Chris Young played brilliantly against Harvard in rebounding from a two-point effort the night before. The sophomore center, who suffered a gash over his left eye that required six stitches after the game, scored a career-high 30 points and added team highs in rebounds with five and assists with four.
"Chris really came out with a lot of energy," Carmody said. "I thought Chris was very good (Friday). He was stopping everything, but like I'm sure we all are, and kids are, I'm sure he was disappointed in getting two points. That's human nature.
"Then he came out (against Harvard) and had a lot of energy. He was cutting like I haven't seen him cut, and I told him this, since last year. He just seemed to have a zest for playing."
With Spencer Gloger's return from an ankle sprain and Eugene Baah, who played nine minutes against Harvard, being available, Princeton will have its full complement of players for the first time since the Kansas game.
"I think it definitely helps," Rocca said. "Regardless of whether we're at full strength, the fact we're all suited up is good. Against Harvard and Dartmouth, there were a lot of guys in and out. It keeps us fresh. We can mix it up and that's advantageous."
Penn has won 10 of its last 11 games, including the last eight. The Quakers are led by senior guards Michael Jordan and Matt Langel, who between them have 2,532 points — more than every current Princeton player combined. Inside, Penn has a 6-foot-11 center, Geoff Owens, and freshman standout Ugonna Onyekwe.
"Jordan and Langel are experienced. I think if we can control their perimeter guys and keep Owens and Onyekwe off the offensive boards," Rocca said. "That's what killed us last year — Owens and (graduated forward Paul) Romanczuk got rebounds and put them back. That's been a weakness for us this year.
"Because I can't jump as well, because I can't cut as well, I can't get away with just going after the ball. I have to go box out my man or whoever's closest to the basket."
Rocca will do his part to ensure that Princeton pulls into a first-place tie with Pennsylvania. He pushed to return as soon as possible. In the end, it has been seven weeks, but he is back.
"The goal was to come back for the first game of Ivies," Rocca said. "Once we missed that, it was come back for Harvard-Dartmouth. If I'm going to be effective, I'm going to have to play.
"I've played with the pain before. I started feeling it before the season and it just got worse with each game. It's there, and I don't know whether it will get better or worse. It's pretty much just dealing with the pain. It's not like I'm risking not being able to walk in 20 years."
But not playing tonight's game would mean risking a chance to talk about a possible Ivy League title.
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