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Improved Stephens Aims to Make Impact As Tiger Men's Hoops Heads Into Ivy Play
By Bill Alden
Mike Stephens was suffering from a bad cold but he was not about to pass up his chance to get his first career start as the Princeton University men's basketball team hosted Southern Vermont last Monday.
Stephens didn't look under the weather at all as he hit from long range and gracefully dropped in hook shots in the paint on the way to a career-high 16 points in Princeton's 86-48 romp over the Division III Mountaineers before 2,458 at Jadwin Gym.
Although his voice was still raspy from his illness, Stephens said he felt fine starting in place of Judson Wallace, who was sidelined with a bruised thigh.
"Judson has been injured for a few days so I felt comfortable playing with the starting five," said the 6'10, 250-pound Stephens. "It wasn't any different than practice for me. I just let the game come to me."
Stephens felt that the Tigers benefited from the outing against the outmanned Mountaineers, which marks Princeton's annual rout of a Division III foe as it makes the transition from exams to the start of its Ivy League campaign.
"It was just good to get out there and run against someone else," explained Stephens, who hit on 6 of 7 shots as Princeton improved to 7-6 before starting Ivy play with games at Brown on January 30 and Yale on January 31.
"We've been practicing for a week now since exams and it's just good to get the feel of playing against someone else."
Stephens' superb performance Monday was just the latest evidence of the marked improvement the junior center has made this season.
Stephens has scored 67 points in 13 games this season, nearly doubling the 37 points he had scored in his 29 appearances in the first two years of his Princeton career.
The Napa, Calif. native attributes his progress in large part to the positive attitude he has gained from having two years of college experience under his belt.
"I think it's just my confidence in myself," said Stephens, whose previous career high of 10 points came in Princeton's loss at Duke earlier this season.
"The previous seasons I was really nervous when I got in. I had a tendency to force things, I wasn't feeling that confident on the court. I've grown more accustomed to the offense. My teammates are more confident in giving me the ball."
Princeton head coach John Thompson III certainly has a growing confidence in Stephens and what he can contribute to the Tigers.
"I wouldn't necessarily say what Mike did tonight was to take advantage, Mike has been doing that all year," asserted Thompson.
"He's been playing well since September. For a lot of players, the clouds kind of open up after freshman year. For Mike, the clouds have opened up this year. He has been effective against the Dukes of the world and against the Southern Vermonts."
Thompson is hoping that his team can collectively be effective as it starts its Ivy title push this weekend.
"I feel good about our team and where we stand," said Thompson, whose club will be thrown into the fire when it faces Brown, the current league front runner with a 2-0 Ivy mark along with Cornell. "Obviously each day as we move to Friday, we feel better and get a chance to review a little more."
The fourth-year head coach is not worried about the Tigers being rusty after having played just one game since January 10. "The exams and reading period are tough but it's not anything new," added Thompson, who said he fully expects Wallace to be ready to play this weekend.
"To take so much time off kind of breaks up your rhythm. Overall, I think we're prepared but we'll see. In league play, anything can happen."
Stephens said he and his teammates are chomping at the bit to get into league action. "We're ready and excited to get into the flow of things," said a grinning Stephens. "We've read about the teams that have already played against each other and we're eager to get a taste of Ivy play."
The junior center is also eager to give Princeton's league foes a taste of the new and improved Stephens. "I think having a career-high is nice but let's hope that it continues against the Ivy League teams," said Stephens.
"I go out there and do whatever I can for the team. I'm not out there looking to shoot the ball every time I touch it. I'm out there to play tough defense, get rebounds, and help my teammates."
