Iona -3.5
Isn’t it Princeton at Iona?
Yes it is. I have corrected it.
In looking at Iona’s games.. key tonight will be to try and avoid sending them to the line. In their 3 games, Iona has shot 43/66 FT compared to opponents 24/40. They are only shooting 65%.. drawing 62 fouls in 3 games compared to 44 for opponents. Total differential in their wins is 27 points. 19 of that is at the line. Big night to contest without fouling.
They’re doing everything right on offense, but missing so many easy, open shots.
The defense started sharp but has quit after all the missed shots. It’s hard to keep up the effort when you’re bricking everything on the other end.
This could get ugly.
It got ugly. This might be one of the sorriest showings in program history.
I feel for the guys on the court. Everything going wrong and they just gotta play it out.
Flush this game and be ready to bounce back on Thursday.
I guess they looked “better” in the 2nd half but the game was over 10 minutes into the first half 
We’re a really young team with zero chemistry and played like it tonight. Maybe they eventually put it together like Brown in 2024, but I doubt it.
Without a decent center on the roster, I don’t see how they can beat good teams even if the offense starts clicking.
Poor effort. Nothing good here at all.
I was going to ask you what you meant by “center.” Princeton hasn’t had a classic “point center” in awhile, but I don’t think you mean that. Princeton hasn’t been splitting those duties among the bigs for a bit - basketball in general doesn’t really have classic centers. But if you mean playable “bigs” - Princeton hasn’t really reloaded from the sweet sixteen lineup of Tosan, Kellman, Pierce and Martini.
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I guess the silver lining is Whitfield’s coming out party. We really need some offense off the bench.
I had to watch this one on my phone while at my granddaughters soccer practice. The game was over early in the first half.
4 for 24 from three point line, and the shots were mostly open. Any one shooter can have a bad night due to variance, but this was the entire team.
Announcer said the team looked tired. If true, not much time to recover before game tomorrow.
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Watching Princeton hoops on your phone while your granddaughter plays soccer. That’s good living!
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Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. She is the youngest of my four, and she is nine years old, so gotta enjoy while I can.
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I would go back a little farther to Richmond Aririguzoh or Brendan Connolly–big enough to rebound and clog the lane on defense.
By “center,” I just meant 6-9+ bigs who can score at the rim on offense and protect the rim on defense (the latter being especially missing).
At the college level, there’s still great value in traditional center skills. Someone who can catch the ball in the low post and score consistently. And certainly you still need long, athletic bigs who can alter shots at the rim.
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Used to be 6’9 kids who could play on the wing and shoot the 3 were the “unicorns” but the game has changed to where all these kids don’t want to be even listed as a “C” in the program. Rim protectors and low post traditional scorers are the new “unicorn”…. kids under 7 ft tall need not apply.
Based on 5 game sample size .. this team seems to go the way Davis goes. If he is off it seems to impact the confidence of the rest of the guys on the team. Happy and Clark have to be stronger with the ball … starting to hold my breath every time they touch it waiting for the turnover.. like they are not ready for the speed and physicality of the game.
The biggest point made above was that the team allowed their poor shooting to affect their defense. That can never happen if you want to be a remotely consistent team. Youth? Lack of on-court leadership? Coaching preparation or in-game decisions? Not sure. (I know what I would try based on what I’ve seen, but I’ve long since given up on MH doing those things, and he sees everything in practice, etc. and knows his players.)
It continues to be the case that Happy is the only consistent back-to-the-basket option (Hicke can do it some, too, but that’s not necessarily the best use of his game). When he is in and they play through him in the high or low post, it looks like a semblance of structured offense. Otherwise, unless they have a weave going, it doesn’t look like they have a clear picture about how to enter into the half-court offense or maintain continuity. And then you get the live-ball turnovers, and the runouts, and the hanging heads (or out-of-rhythm shots). But they also missed a ton of good looks that they did manage to get, too, and also missed a lot of FTs, so some of it might be just random variation.
I’m not sure what the team’s psychological approach has been so far, but I would really like to see an end to the appearance of constant disappointment and frustration when things don’t go well. Either play for the joy of doing it well and don’t worry about the results or prioritize winning and expect to have to struggle and fight. There is no reputation to defend, no reason to expect to dominate, but every reason to think that the team has a lot of talent that could be put to use as a means to consistent execution on both ends.
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