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 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption:
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Princeton Men's Hoops Shows Aggressiveness As it Earns Split in Coaches vs. Cancer Classic
By Bill Alden
Joe Scott is known for his meticulous attention to detail when it comes to preparing his basketball teams.
But as Scott headed into his first two games last week as the new head coach of the Princeton University men's basketball team, he wasn't quite sure what to expect.
"I've only been coaching these guys for a month," said Scott as he recalled his thoughts before the Tigers started their season by competing in the opening round of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. "It was more of a relief than anything to get the game over with."
Scott ended up being relieved by what he saw from his new players as Princeton topped Bucknell 61-48 in the season opener last Thursday and then came back a night later to push No. 5 Syracuse hard before losing 56-45.
"I think we did OK," said Scott in assessing his team's performance last week. "I was fairly happy with our defense; it's still a work in progress. I liked our aggressiveness and physicality."
In the opener against Bucknell, sophomore Luke Owings showed his aggressiveness as he scored a career-high 21 points as the Tigers led wire-to-wire.
"Luke played well," said Scott as he reflected on his first game as the Princeton head man. "For him to continue to get better, he's got to work on his defense and cut down on mistakes. I think we can play an entire game and not make any mental mistakes on defense."
Scott was pleased with the work of key reserve sophomore guard Max Schafer and senior center Mike Stephens. Schafer had six points and two steals in 25 minutes of work while Stephens chipped in 11 points as he hit on three of four three-point attempts.
"Max is a good guy off the bench," said Scott, whose club shot 56.4 percent from the field and had only nine turnovers in the win over the Bison. "He gives us a different look; he's a spark. With Stephens, from the time we got here it's been shoot the ball, shoot the ball. Starting like that has to help his confidence."
The next night, Princeton showed its self confidence as it jumped out to a 14-5 lead over perennial national power Syracuse before a crowd of 20,176 in its building.
Buoyed by its fans, the Orange went on a 23-8 run to take a 28-22 lead at the half. After Syracuse extended that lead to 34-24 with 17:02 remaining in the second half, the Tigers fought back, tying the game at 37-37.
With four minutes left in the game, Princeton had the ball trailing by 47-43. The Tigers missed a three-pointer and Syracuse proceeded to go on a 9-0 run to put the game out of reach.
Scott believed he and his charges learned some valuable lessons as they try to break the program's recent habit of pushing national powers to the brink before coming up short.
"I think I found out that this group has the wherewithal to do what I expect of them," said Scott, who got 17 points and six rebounds from senior star Will Venable in the loss to Syracuse.
"It's not like we played the 25th team in the country. We played the fifth-ranked team in the country and we had a chance to win. I think it opened their eyes to the things I've been saying. I think that this game can only help us going forward."
With Princeton heading west to play at Wyoming on November 22, Scott is hoping that his team can continue its progress.
"We have eight days to work on improving for Wyoming," said Scott, who was the toast of the Rocky Mountain region last season when he piloted Air Force to a 22-7 record and its first NCAA appearance in 42 years.
"That's a tough team and a tough place to win. In order for us to win on the road we have to be very good at our staples, half-court offense and half-court defense. We need to control the game."
If Princeton can pay attention to detail, it could break through with a road triumph.
