SBNation.com User Blog: ShawnLayton

Princeton needs overtime to edge resilient Rutgers 78-73

ShawnLayton — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 15:52:39 -0000

Dunks in traffic, a paucity of high screens and backdoor layups, and even a brick from the charity stripe. This year's Princeton basketball team isn't your father's Princeton team.

The 2010 Princeton Tigers brought athleticism and grit into Jadwin Gym last night to earn the 78-73 overtime victory in its interstate tilt with Rutgers. The Tigers were led by a career-high 26 points from senior Dan Mavraides and 11 rebounds from sophomore Brendan Connolly.

"They're (Princeton) a lot better," Rutgers sophomore Dane Miller said. "They're athletic, big, strong. I guess they're picked to win the conference. I don't know about the other teams in the division, but I know Princeton is good."

Despite getting down early thanks to a 10-2 Princeton run to open the contest, Rutgers showed tremendous character and toughness to make it a game in the second half. James Beatty led the Scarlet Knights with 15 points going 4-6 from beyond the three-point arc. Miller and freshman Mike Poole added 14 points apiece.

"I compare a lot of things to a boxing match. We got smacked a couple times," Rutgers head coach Mike Rice said. "We got punched right in the jaw and we looked a little glassy-eyed, but they had a fight that I liked. We pressured better in the second half. We had more aggressiveness on the ball and I thought that helped our offense. We made some mistakes, but (Princeton) is a very good, talented team. Whenever we did make a defensive mistake, it ended up in Mavraides' hands. He certainly was wonderful tonight."

In the post-game press conference, Rice even suggested some of the late game mistakes were his own and admitted that he's still learning about the personnel he inherited after coming to Rutgers after three successful seasons at Robert Morris.

Discussing the three-ball Mavraides sank from the right side of the key with just under 2:00 to go in overtime, Rice admitted the defensive play calling was his blunder. At the time of the shot, Rutgers trailed Princeton 69-68. The Scarlet Knights never got closer than a deuce the rest of the way.

"We were in man at that point when Mavraides hit the shot...But we didn’t adjust perfectly and that’s my fault," Rice said. "That should have never been called. We should have stayed man because our man was good. I wanted to switch it up. Our zone was effective in getting us back in the game. We kept them off balance a little bit. That was one thing I’d like to have back."

As was evident last night, this year's team is very much a work in progress. For those RU fans in attendance, and there was a decent amount of red to counteract the black and orange, the fight Rice's players put on display had to be a pleasant sight and one often missing last season.

"Coach Rice knows exactly what he's doing," Princeton head coach Sydney Johnson said. "He's a terrific coach and those guys played very, very hard. I think it's a pretty good win for us."

GRAINS FROM RICE:

"To be honest, I'm still learning here. I could have went to Dane here, to J-Mitch here, I could have went to Austin Johnson. I'm still figuring out as the close games happen, who we should go to. I take a little fault in this and maybe my play-calling at the end should have been better."

"We're going to be in these games. We're going to be in tight, close games and we'll have to learn from these mistakes and learn from this game."

"Mike Poole was unbelievable tonight (6-8 from the floor, 2-2 from the fould line, 14 points, two assists, two turnovers, 24 minutes)."

"We have a lot to work on, certainly, but I love some of the fight that we have. We looked dazed a couple times and (we) regrouped and huddled. A couple of voices in our huddle weren't just the seniors, they were some of the freshmen, some of the sophomores. I like that."

Scarlet Knights Basketball Schedule

Next 5 Games

Fairfield	Mon 11/15	7:30 PM EST
Miami	Sun 11/21	4:00 PM EST
Norfolk St.	Tue 11/23	7:30 PM EST
@ St. Joseph's	Fri 11/26	7:30 PM EST
NJIT Highlanders	Wed 12/01	7:30 PM EST

Last 5 Games

@ Princeton

Fri 11/12

L 73 - 78

Rice tenure begins with victory over McGill

ShawnLayton — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 02:56:38 -0000

Two minutes into Monday night's exhibition game against visiting McGill, it was evident that a Mike Rice coached team would bear little resemblance to a Fred Hill Jr. team. The ball movement alone reminded viewers, what few there were in attendance, what was sorely lacking from last season's 15-17 team. The Scarlet Knights' impressive ball touches led to 16 assists and an 80-68 win over McGill to usher in a new era on the banks.

"I was in the top 25 in assists for the last three years," Rice said of his teams at Robert Morris. "It has to happen. Actually, I wasn't real pleased...I thought we were very quick with a lot of our shots. This team can't be quick. We can be quick during misses and turnovers, but then we have to have patience and use each other."

Sophomore guard Dane Miller benefitted the most from RU's ability to move the ball and exhibit patience and sound decision making. Miller led all scorers with 19 points on 7-12 shooting. He also finished with 12 rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes of action.

"If we continue to move and share the ball, I think Dane will have a great year because Dane is a handful once he gets momentum going to the basket," Rice said. "The offense and how we do things and our constant motion and our constant screening, I think will help Dane and the rest of the guys spread the floor. Dane certainly takes advantage of that. He's so unselfish, he had four assists, and could have had seven or eight if guys knocked down open jumpers. Dane was good tonight offensively. Defensively, he didn't play with purpose."

Rutgers played with intensity, which should be no surprise since this is the word most commonly quoted by the team's players in the media guide when asked to describe Rice in one word. Unfortunately, intensity came at the sacrifice of control at times, especially on the defensive end, and the team finished the contest with 27 fouls.

"The same thing happened at Robert Morris (at) first, hopefully we'll correct it quicker," Rice said. "We're playing hard, closing out, we're trying to be the aggressor, but aggressive doesn't mean you can put your hands on the offensive opponent. We want to make the (opposing) team play quicker than they want, get them out of some of their offensive sets, but that doesn't mean putting your hands on them."

Rice started both halves with Miller, James Beatty, Mike Coburn, Jonathan Mitchell and freshman Gilvydas Biruta. Mitchell finished with 16 points and Birutas added 10 points and eight rebounds. Freshman Mike Poole and sophomore Austin Johnson came off the bench to score 11 and 10 points, respectively.

"There's a lot of flexibility still there," Rice said of the starting five. "I thought to myself yesterday, I need somebody who's actually played college basketball coming off the bench and that's why I put Gil (in the starting five). Gil's been rebounding better than Austin, Austin scores better than Gil."

The Scarlet Knights and Rice have plenty to work on before the regular season gets underway Nov. 12 against Princeton at Jadwin Gym. After all, McGill isn't a Big East team or even the preseason favorite to win the Ivy League.

" Princeton is a veteran team that's been running the same system for four years now," Rice said. "We just have to play with more of a purpose and improve every single day."

MORE GRAINS OF RICE:

"I thought energy was good, effort was good. When you have 12, 13 full days of practice you're gonna get some sloppiness, some scratching your head and saying what was that play. But for the most part I was looking for what were working on was a carry over and I saw some carry over and we just have to tweak it and make it a little bit better."

"They're gonna scramble every game for 31 games. They have to get used to not relaxing. They have to stay locked in."

"Our defense isn't instinctive yet. We'll try, we'll work on it."

"There was an unselfishness, there was willingness to make a play for a teammate and that's what we harp on everyday."

"It's not good enough just to have energy. Unfortunately, when you're undermanned or you don't have depth you got to play with a purpose too."

"They had an edge to their energy."

"The whole team has to finish better. We have to grab rebounds and loose balls. They tried, but are they Big East ready? We all know that answer."

"Mike Poole got up 10 shots in 17 minutes. That's aggressive, I guess, huh?"