Presenting Ivy Hoops Online writer George Clark’s audio reports on Princeton’s Jadwin Gym doubleheader consisting of a women’s matchup with Temple and a men’s showdown versus Hofstra.
How the No. 24 Princeton women dispatched Temple, 67-49, in a characteristically defense-oriented game at Jadwin:
What sparked the Hofstra 12-1 run that secured the Pride an 83-77 victory over the Tigers and how coach Mitch Henderson retooled the starting lineup after key departures from last year’s Ivy title team:
Brutal loss for the Tigers. They outplayed Hofstra for the first 18 minutes of both halves but blew the game with horrific closeouts in each stanza. Taken together, Hofstra outscored Princeton 22-2 over the final few minutes of the two halves. I thought the Hofstra run at the end of the first half set the stage for the upset. With key players on the bench due to foul trouble, Hofstra fought back and eroded Princeton’s double-digit lead to a mere 4-point deficit at the break. By not capitalizing on their first half opportunity to put the game away, Princeton ceded the momentum to a determined road opponent. Hoftra made the most of the opportunity by keeping the game close and then converting two huge open three attempts at crunch time. Princeton could not convert its crunch time opportunities, and that was the game. On the positive side, several of the newcomers looked great in their debuts last night and Keyshawn Keller was sensational. Thankfully, this collapse did not happen in a League game, but the Tigers need to figure out how to closeout the end of halves, including the first half. I recall last year’s squad struggled several times in similar fashion (although maybe not quite a dramatically as last night). Closing out the last 3-4 possessions at the end of the first half is critical to any team’s success; hopefully, the Tigers can improve in this area going forward. One final point is about the defense, which was Princeton’s primary weakness last season. I noticed that Coach Henderson frequently switched to various zone defenses coming out of media timeouts. I didn’t think it worked very well and the team typically switched back to man defense fairly quickly after initiating the zone. It will be interesting to see if Mitch continues to tinker with defensive tactics throughout the rest of the non-conference schedule.
On the positive side, the team rebounded impressively last night, especially on the defensive board. Go Tigers. Beat Navy!