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 (Photoby Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption:
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Schafer Gives Maximum Effort Off the Bench As Tiger Men's Basketball Snaps 4-Game Skid
By Bill Alden
Max Schafer started the basketball season with his hair in a ponytail. He later changed his look to a modified Mohawk and lately he has lost more hair on the way to a relatively conservative wavy bleached style.
Schafer's change in coiffures mirrors an inner conflict he has been going through as he has struggled to find his role as one of the top reserves on the Princeton University men's basketball team. After playing an average of 24 minutes in Princeton's first three games of the season, the sophomore guard saw his court time dwindle to the point where he didn't even get off the bench for three games. With Princeton struggling collectively as it dropped four straight games to fall to 1-5 in Ivy League play, Schafer wasn't the only Tiger grappling to find his role under the new system installed by first-year head coach Joe Scott.
But plugging away after some heart-to-heart talks with Scott, Schafer's persistence paid off last Saturday as he scored nine points in 36 minutes of action to help lead Princeton to a 63-53 win over Columbia last Saturday before a crowd of 4,512 at Jadwin Gym. The win was particularly vital since it provided a happy ending to a disastrous week that started with Princeton blowing an 18-point lead with seven minutes to go in a 70-62 overtime loss at Penn on February 8. The shell-shocked Tigers then came back last Friday to squander an eight-point second half cushion against Cornell as the Big Red went on a stunning 20-0 run in beating Princeton 66-58.
In Schafer's view, it was defensive intensity that helped get Princeton out of its rut. "I think the guys really zeroed in on what we had to do defensively," said Schafer, grinning for the first time in a while. "I'm so proud of the team to get out of the hole we were in. It is so difficult to do that."
The Tigers also exhibited some of the wide-open play they showed in last year's title campaign in using the fast break to foil Columbia's press.
"I think there was a more concerted effort to attack their press," explained the 6'1, 195-pound Schafer, a Wayne, N.J. native who had two rebounds, two assists, and a steal in the win over the Lions.
"After the Penn game, all we've been focusing on is the press-breaker. I think coach did a great job of preparing us, telling us to go out there and attack them. That's what we did. I think that's why Will [Venable] bounced back to be the player that he truly is."
Schafer admitted that he was relieved to bounce back himself from a slump that had him questioning his future with the program
"Coach has really helped me with that, we've had a lot of talks," said Schafer, who came into the night averaging just 2.7 points a game.
"I'm glad I stuck with it. There was a point where I wasn't sure what I was going to do, a definite fork in the road. I'm glad with the choice I made. Little by little, I'm building myself up, getting more minutes each game. I played 36 minutes tonight, which is the goal."
Scott, for his part, thought his club took a step toward achieving its goal of producing a suffocating defense.
"Our defense was absolutely terrific, probably our best defensive game of the year," asserted Scott, whose team held Columbia to 35.9 percent shooting on the way to improving to 11-10 overall and 2-5 in Ivy play.
"We did a really good job of just playing our defense, that's the way it's supposed to look. If we can do it tonight, we have to learn to do it next Friday. We have just one job – to have that same kind of effort."
Scott was particularly pleased with Schafer's effort. "Max Schafer was terrific tonight," declared Scott, who got a career-high 17 points from junior guard Scott Greenman and 15 points from Venable.
"Max is to be commended; he's been having a struggling type of year on many fronts. At this point, he seems to be trying to put it all together."
The fiery coach acknowledged that he has struggled to get the players on the same page with his approach. "It's been extremely hard," acknowledged Scott.
"Everything is always different when you take over a new program. We're stressing different things and doing different things. We all have these expectations and desires. Sometimes you have to go through stuff to learn stuff."
With Princeton starting the season as prohibitive title favorites and now finding itself mired in the league cellar halfway through the conference campaign, the players are learning some valuable life lessons.
"If these guys hang in there and give the kind of effort they gave tonight, they will be rewarded for it, that's for certain," said Scott, whose club plays at Yale on February 18 and at Brown on February 19.
"They're going to be rewarded for it in ways people don't recognize; it will show up over and over throughout their lives. It will say volumes about what kind of kids they are."
In Schafer's view, the Tigers will show their true character as they go through the second half of their Ivy slate. "The seniors want to finish out their careers the way they should," asserted Schafer.
"We're focused on going out and showing teams that we're different than you. If you really think about it, we're all in this together. I think the guys are starting to realize that it's not me, me, me. One guy is happy for another and another guy is happy for him."
And Schafer is happy to have gotten himself out of a hairy situation to once again be a vital part of the Tigers.
