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Wallace Produces Back-To-Back Stellar Efforts To Lift Tiger Men's Hoops Back Into Ivy Lead
By Bill Alden
Judson Wallace struggled to find a silver lining in the dark cloud that settled over the Princeton men¹s basketball team after it got whipped by archrival Penn last week.
Recalling a phone message he had received from his father before the Tigers went down 67-52 to the Quakers on February 10, Wallace said that a setback could provide inspiration for a comeback.
"This game hurts, it really hurts," said Wallace, reflecting on the team's first loss in Ivy League play which came on a night in which it could have dealt a major blow to Penn which brought a 2-2 league record into Jadwin Gym. "We can't let a setback ruin our season."
Tiger head coach John Thompson III, who is in his 13th Ivy campaign as a Princeton player or coach, was able to add some perspective to the words of wisdom Wallace received from his dad.
"We're five games into a 14-game race, the race is not to the swift," said Thompson. "It's a long haul and we realize that we have to take it one game at a time in this league. As I've said to our guys, there is no need at any point to look at the big picture. You have to look at the next game, the next weekend."
The junior center and team co-captain Wallace vowed that the Tigers would be road warriors as they played at Cornell last Friday and then at Columbia a night later.
"Away games in the Ivy League are always a challenge," explained Wallace. ³We have a long ride to Cornell on Thursday. We play them Friday and they've been playing real well.²
Taking matters into his own hands, Wallace made sure that the Tigers would enjoy their ride home from upper Manhattan late Saturday night.
On Friday, Wallace contributed 22 points while Will Venable poured in a career-high 28 points as the Tigers gutted out a 69-64 win over the Big Red.
A night later, the Tigers faced more adversity as they ran into a determined Columbia squad, which jumped out to a 33-25 halftime lead.
Once again, Wallace played a pivotal role. After scoring just 2 points in the first half, the 6'10, 230-pound Wallace scored 21 points after the break as the Tigers forced overtime when a Venable lay-up knotted the score at 64 seconds before the end of regulation.
In the overtime, Princeton got the lead for the first time of the game as it scored the first nine points of the extra session and ultimately escaped Levien Gym with a 78-71 overtime decision.
Wallace showed his total game in his dazzling second half, hitting on 13-of-14 free throws, adding four assists and grabbing eight rebounds over the last 25 minutes.
As Thompson reflected on the weekend in his post-game media conference Saturday, he made it clear how well he thought Wallace responded to adversity.
"Our center was great the whole weekend," said Thompson referring to Wallace, whose 20-point performances last weekend were his first since he registered 26 against Fresno State on December 26. "We needed a big lift being down at halftime and he provided it for us."
With the lift provided by Wallace, the Tigers, now 13-7 overall, ended a tortuous stretch of five games in nine days with a 4-1 mark. As a result, Princeton sits atop the Ivies with a 6-1 league mark as it hosts Yale on February 20 and then Brown, currently 6-2 in league play, the next night.
Wallace, for his part, had a feeling that the Tigers could turn their disappointing night against Penn into something positive.
"We've got a good group of guys and a pretty good chemistry," maintained Wallace. "From the top down, our coaches have had confidence in the players. The players have to have confidence in each other."
After last weekend, the players should have confidence that their center isn't about to let a setback ruin his season.
