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Princeton (12-12, 7-4 Ivy) at Columbia (11-15, 6-6)
Friday, Mar. 6, 7 p.m. at Columbia's Levien Gym
Princeton head coach: Sydney Johnson (second season/Princeton '97/18-35 at Princeton/overall)
Radio: WPRB 103.3 FM (John Sadak, Play-by-Play)
All-Time Series: Princeton leads 137-83, 60-49 on the road and 26-8 in Levien Gym
Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
Princeton at Cornell (19-9, 9-3)
Saturday, Mar. 7, 7 p.m. at Cornell's Newman Arena
Radio: WPRB 103.3 FM (John Sadak, Play-by-Play)
All-Time Series: Princeton leads 134-75, 54-47 on the road and 13-6 in Newman Arena
Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
Season Stats: Overall | Conference
Game-by-Game Stats: Team | Opponents | Indiv. Points-Rebounds-Assists
Players: (1) Huc | (2) Briggs | (11) Foley | (14) Lake | (15) Comfort | (20) Davis | (21) Schroeder | (22) Saunders | (23) Maddox | (30) Finley | (33) Mavraides | (34) Strittmatter | (55) Buczak
Last weekend's box scores: Brown at Princeton | Yale at Princeton
Last time against Columbia: Feb. 7 at Princeton | Last Princeton visit to Columbia: Feb. 9, 2008 at Columbia
Last time against Cornell: Feb. 6 at Princeton | Last Princeton visit to Cornell: Feb. 8, 2008 at Cornell
Ivy League Standings
Around the Ivy League:
Friday: Penn at Cornell, 7 | Live Stats; Dartmouth at Yale, 7 | Live Stats; Harvard at Brown, 7 | (No live stats)
Saturday: Penn at Columbia, 7 | Live Stats; Harvard at Yale, 7 | Live Stats; Dartmouth at Brown, 7 | (No live stats)
| Tale of the Tape: Overall (Conference) | Princeton | Columbia | Cornell | |
| Points Per Game | 58.6 (58.6) | 60.8 (59.8) | 74.2 (75.2) | |
| Points Allowed Per Game | 57.1 (55.2) | 63.3 (62.1) | 65.0 (62.9) | |
| Field Goal Percentage | .433 (.453) | .405 (.407) | .473 (.479) | |
| Field Goal Percentage Allowed | .394 (.402) | .409 (.423) | .416 (.399) | |
| Three-Point Percentage | .382 (.426) | .321 (.387) | .410 (.396) | |
| Three-Point Percentage Allowed | .286 (.269) | .310 (.272) | .312 (.302) | |
| Free Throw Percentage | .746 (.770) | .666 (.670) | .739 (.741) | |
| Rebounding Average | 30.8 (27.5) | 34.4 (31.4) | 35.6 (37.8) | |
| Rebounding Average Against | 32.3 (31.3) | 35.4 (34.8) | 32.6 (31.8) | |
| Assists/Game | 11.3 (11.5) | 11.7 (11.0) | 15.6 (15.6) | |
| Blocks/Game | 3.1 (3.1) | 2.1 (2.4) | 4.1 (3.9) | |
| Steals/Game | 5.8 (5.8) | 6.6 (6.8) | 6.8 (6.9) | |
| Turnovers/Game | 13.1 (11.8) | 14.4 (12.3) | 13.3 (13.1) |
Game Notes
The bottom line: Princeton must beat Cornell Saturday to have any chance at an Ivy League title and NCAA berth. Only if Cornell also loses to Penn Friday could Princeton lose either to Columbia or Penn in its other two final games and finish tied with Cornell. If Cornell wins Friday, Princeton must sweep the final three games to finish tied with the Big Red and force a one-game playoff.
Streaky streaky: For the second time this season, Princeton will try to end a lengthy Cornell streak. The Tigers stopped Cornell's win streak in Ivy games at 19 on Feb. 6. If the Big Red get past Penn Friday night, they will have won 20 straight home games overall and 13 straight Ivy League home games. No Ivy team has won in Ithaca since Mar. 2, 2007 when Harvard won.
Another streak: Columbia has won four straight Ivy League home games and has only lost at home in Ivy play this season to Cornell, on Jan. 17.
Tough place: Columbia's Levien Gym is one of three Ivy League buildings in which no current Tiger has won. The other two are the Pizzitola Center at Brown and The Palestra at Penn. Princeton's last win at Columbia was Feb. 25, 2005.
Last win in Ithaca: Princeton defeated Cornell 76-68 in double overtime in its last win in Ithaca, Feb. 17, 2006. Current assistant coach Scott Greenman was second among all scorers with 27 points (Noah Savage '08 had 28).
Splitsville: Of the four Ivy series Princeton has completed this season, the last three have split. Princeton lost to Brown and Yale the first time around and won the rematch, while the reverse happened with Dartmouth. The Tigers hope the trend doesn't hold, since Princeton won the season's first meetings with Cornell and Columbia.
300 game: Douglas Davis is close to becoming the fifth Princeton freshman to score 300 points. His 297 points leave him just outside the four-man club that includes Chris Young (387 in 1999), Spencer Gloger (336 in 2000), Kit Mueller (329 in 1988) and John Smyth (319 in 1983). Freshmen became eligible to play at Princeton for the 1979-80 season.
Tigers in the Ivy rankings: Dan Mavraides leads the league in three-point field goal percentage over the season at .448. As a team in overall games, Princeton ranks first in scoring defense (57.1 ppg allowed), free-throw percentage (.746), field goal percentage defense (.394) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.286).
More Tigers in the Ivy rankings: In league games, Pawel Buczak is the Ivy's most accurate shooter at .617, while Marcus Schroeder is the most accurate three-point shooter at .550. Schroeder also has the best assist-to-turnover ratio at +2.5. Princeton leads in scoring defense (55.2), free-throw percentage (.770), three-point field-goal percentage defense (.269) and three-point field-goal percentage (.426).
Last time vs. Columbia: Princeton posted its biggest margin of victory over Columbia since 2000 with a 63-35 win on Feb. 7, holding the Lions to 23.9% shooting from the field. Princeton outrebounded Columbia 41-26, and no Lion had more than five points (Zack Crimmins). Zach Finley was the highest scoring Tiger with 11 points.
Last time vs. Cornell: In what Princeton's most impressive victory of the season, Cornell never led in a 61-41 Tiger victory Feb. 6. Princeton outshot Cornell 50% to 31.8% and held the Big Red to 2 of 17 shooting from beyond the arc (11.8%).
Sydney Johnson vs. Columbia: Sydney Johnson carries a 10-1 record against Columbia. His Tiger teams won all eight meetings as a player and he is 2-1 against the Lions as a head coach.
Johnson vs. Jones: Sydney Johnson is 2-1 against Joe Jones. Princeton did not play Hofstra while Johnson was a Tiger player and Jones a Hofstra assistant.
Sydney Johnson vs. Cornell: Sydney Johnson was a perfect 8-0 against Cornell as a player and is 1-2 against the Big Red as a head coach.
Johnson vs. Donahue: Between his time as an assistant at Penn and head coach at Cornell, Steve Donahue has gotten the better of Sydney Johnson’s teams 8 of 12 times. Donahue’s Quakers beat Princeton the first six times Johnson was a player, but the Tigers won the last three including the 1996 Ivy playoff. Donahue leads 2-1 with both men in their current roles.
Mr. Jones and me: Princeton will be taking on James and Joe Jones back-to-back for the fifth time since Joe Jones took over at Columbia in 2003-04. Princeton has never been swept in back-to-back Jones meetings but have swept them only once, in 2004. Princeton defeated James Jones' Yale team last Saturday.
Davis is Ivy Rookie of the Week: Douglas Davis won his third Ivy Rookie of the Week honor this week for two double-digit scoring games against Brown and Yale last weekend. Dan Mavraides is the only other Tiger to be honored with an Ivy weekly award, having claimed the first Ivy League Player of the Week honor in February.
Good shots: Princeton's 53.5% shooting clip Saturday against Yale was the fifth time this season the Tigers have shot 50% or better from the field. The Tigers have shot at least 40% in each of the last four games.
Dialing from distance: Princeton has shot at least 41% from beyond the three-point line in each of the last five games.
Good from the line, too: Princeton has shot at least 80% from the free-throw line in each of the last four games, including a 9-for-9 performance against Yale.
Good help: Princeton's seven-game streak with at least 10 assists is its longest of the season.
Stop, thief!: The 17 steals Princeton had against Brown and Yale tie its largest two-game total of the season.
Better shots: Princeton won the field-goal percentage, three-point FG% and free-throw percentage stats in every game during its just-ended five-game homestand.
Now boarding: When Princeton outrebounded Yale by two, it was just the second time in the last 13 contests that Princeton won the rebounding battle.
Home finale: Seniors Jason Briggs and Mike Strittmatter each bid Carril Court farewell with a solid effort. Briggs' five points were his most since Jan. 7 against Lehigh, also the last time before Saturday that he'd hit a three-pointer. Strittmatter's 22 minutes were his most in two years and his nine points were his most since Dec. 2007 against Marshall (10).
Davis drops in: Douglas Davis has shot 21 of 32 (.656) from the field in the last four games combined. All four were double-digit scoring performances, giving him 17 this season in 24 games. He is the only Tiger to have scored in every game this season.
Mavraides makes it: Dan Mavraides' 49 points in the last three games matches a three-game high for the sophomore. He has shot 54.8% in the last three games. His six rebounds against Yale were his most since a career-high seven against UNC Greensboro on Jan. 3.
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