PRINCETON TIGERS: Penn, Princeton and Pete are set

Inside track for title is at stake One year ago, Penn effectively ended one team's lock on the Ivy title. In a game whose significance consumed the entire Penn community, the Quakers defeated archrival Princeton 64-46 at a sold-out and electrified Palestra. Eighty-seven hundred adrenalized fans watched Penn tear apart the Tigers that night, as the coveted Ivy crown was well on its way from its four-year respite at Old Nassau to its new home on 33rd Street. For Penn would go on to win its next 12 games, finishing 14-0 in the Ivies. Princeton would lose six out of its last 11, and four of its last five, never recovering from that loss at the Palestra on January 30. One year later, these two teams meet again on the last Saturday of January. However, this time Penn travels to Princeton to take on the Tigers (7:30 p.m., Jadwin Gym, WXPN 88.5-FM, WCZN 1590-AM, WSSJ 1310-AM) in a sold-out arena. The scenarios are reversed, but the game's importance has not. "This is why you come to Penn, to play a game like this one," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. The two come into this classic matchup as the only teams in the Ivies with winning records. The Quakers (11-2, 2-0 Ivy League) enter having won 10 of 11, losing only at Temple. The Tigers (9-5, 2-0) are riding a four-game win streak of their own, and have not lost yet in the month of January. "This is a big game for us," Princeton coach Pete Carril said. "If we can't beat Penn at our home court, it becomes problematic that we win at their court." Carril takes a 26-28 record against Penn into this game, but more importantly to the Quakers, Carril's teams are 234-56 (87 percent) at Jadwin. In fact, before last season's 51-50 win at Jadwin, Penn had not defeated Princeton on the road in five years. A 7,500-seat arena with an open-air atmosphere, Jadwin is regarded as always a challenging place to play. "It's a lousy place to play ball," senior captain and swingman Barry Pierce said. "But we have to play there once a year." "It's not easy," Dunphy said. "The crowd will be in full force, but we've already seen enough hostile crowds so we should enjoy it." In addition to bringing its home court advantage, Princeton also carries with it the top-rated defense in the nation, holding opponents to a paltry 51.8 points per game. And the Tiger defense is playing just about as well as it has been all season. In its last four contests, Princeton has allowed an average of only 43 ppg. That's nearly 37 points less than Penn's average offensive output. "We have to be patient on offense and make good choices," Dunphy said. "Patience is the key to getting our offense running effectively." The Tigers spread out their scoring on offense, with a point-per-game differential of only 3.5 between the five starters. Senior forward Chris Mooney averages 11.7 ppg, but freshman guard Sydney Johnson has surpassed all expectations and vaulted himself into a starting role. He is shooting 53 percent from three-point range and follows Mooney in scoring average with 9.5 ppg. But Mooney is a threat the Quakers are well aware of. "Shawn [Trice] will have his hands full," Pierce said of Mooney's primary defender. "They shoot the outside jumper and we have to pressure them." The Tigers' formidable frontcourt is complemented by its centers, former Ivy League Freshman of the Year Rick Hielscher and sophomore Jesse Rosenfeld. Hielscher, who missed a shot and sank a tip-in just after time expired in last year's 51-50 game at Jadwin, has rebounded from a series of injuries and is healthy. Rosenfeld's 12 points against Penn in that game was a career high. But Princeton is also well aware of the Penn threats, among which is its well-publicized backcourt. The Quaker backcourt of Pierce, and juniors Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney have combined for 56 percent of the Penn offense. "[Maloney and Allen] have been two of the best guards that have been in this league in such a long time, it isn't even funny," Carril said. This matchup pits not only the two most successful teams in Ivy history, but also the two best teams this year. In fact, Princeton and Penn are 1-2 in field goal percentage, free throw percentage, three-point field goal percentage and scoring defense. With the superior strength of these two teams compared to the other Ivy squads, both understand the winner of tomorrow's game has the upper hand on the road to the Ivy title. "If the NCAA took two or three teams from our league into the tournament then maybe this game wouldn't be as important," Carril said. "But that is not the case." But both teams understand the significance of this meeting. Only this time, the Tigers are playing the underdog role and they are out to do what the Quakers did to them last year. As Penn well knows, the Big Dance holds its preliminaries on the last Saturday in January.