Lost in all of the hype surrounding Princeton's backdoor cuts, three-points shooting and the merits of their "system" is the basis for their success in the last 10 years. The Tigers are the top defensive team in the country, as the Quakers painfully found out in Princeton's 71-52 victory last night. "We have been playing good defense every year I've been here," Princeton forward James Mastaglio said. "While people aren't making a big deal about it this year, I think it's just because they've come to expect it from us." The numbers show how thoroughly the Tigers shut down the normally potent Penn attack. The Quakers were held to 21 points below their average per-game total while shooting a meager 34.8 percent from the field. While Penn has five players capable of putting up 20 points in a game, Michael Jordan was the Quakers' top scorer with a quiet 14 points. "I have to give the Princeton defense lot of credit," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. "Their outstanding defense is evidenced by how they hold teams to a low shooting percentage." Throughout the year the Quakers have lived and died by the three-pointer. If any team was ready to exploit Penn's reliance on the outside game, it was the Tigers. Yet early on, Penn diverged from its usual offense as it perfectly attacked the soft middle of the Tiger zone for the inside shot. Four quick baskets gave Penn an early 8-4 lead. Penn's early success driving to the basket opened up three-pointers for Garett Kreitz and Matt Langel. Yet the two hottest Quaker shooters misfired to signal the beginning of a game they would both like to forget. "I don't think we had jitters in the first half," Jordan said. "We felt we got open shots early in the game, and we have to step up and make those shots." Yet the Quakers early opportunities labeled Kreitz and Langel as marked men for the Princeton defense. As the Quaker bombers became magnets for Princeton defenders, the Penn offense sputtered during a five minute scoreless stretch in the first half. "Coming into the game we knew Langel was shooting like 100 percent on threes and Kreitz has always been a good three-point shooter," Mastaglio said. "We really started to lock them down." After watching Penn pick apart his zone, Princeton coach Bill Carmody switched to a man-to-man scheme. The risky part of the decision would be determined by Jordan's ability to drive against his man, whether it be Mastaglio, Brian Earl or Mitch Henderson. "We focused on Garret and Langel on the wings and Michael penetrating," Earl said. "It's a tough thing to handle because you have to be really patient in the way you guard the drives because you know they want to kick it out for the threes." The man-to-man strategy worked as Jordan was unable to break free for his characteristic drives to the basket. Most of his points came from the perimeter, and his three assists were balanced with three turnovers. With Jordan's driving ability held in check, Langel and Kreitz suffered through their worst games of the year. The two combined for 5 points on 2-15 shooting. Kreitz inexplicably went from 33 points against Brown Saturday to zero points against the Tigers. "We figured that if we shut down Kreitz and Langel we would be in good shape," Mastaglio said. The lack of a three-point threat allowed Princeton to maintain its tough inside presence. Steve Goodrich and James Mastaglio focussed on stopping the inside passes to Penn's only consistent inside player, Paul Romanczuk. When Romanczuk did get the ball, he proved unstoppable for the Tigers. He used a variety of post moves to make all but one of his shots. But in his 33 minutes of court time, Romanczuk attempted only five shots. Penn's inability to get the ball down low to Romanczuk left the Quakers without a dependable source of points. "It was mainly a function of their defense," Dunphy said. "We certainly wanted to get the ball down there more often than we did." The biggest contributions of the Princeton defense came when Penn was trying to cut into the Tigers' 31-20 lead. The Tigers were consistently able to raise their level of defensive intensity when Penn mounted any threat to their lead. Penn had six chances in the second half to cut the lead to single digits. Four times the Quakers were forced into a turnover. Another time, Jordan had his shot blocked. After silencing those early threats, the Tigers were well on their way to a surprisingly easy victory. Before last night's match-up, Penn forward Jed Ryan had said that a perfect defensive effort would be needed to win the game. He just wasn't counting on the performance coming from the other team.
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