Princeton Defense Stifling

Going into yesterday's game between Princeton and Harvard, two of the top seven defensive teams in the nation, everyone expected to see a defensive battle. That is exactly what they got.

In a 49-44 gut-wrenching victory over the Crimson last night at Lavietes Pavilion, the Princeton Tigers (13-5, 5-1 Ivy) proved that they deserve their ranking as the nation's best defensive squad.

"They are an excellent defensive team," Harvard coach Frank Sullivan. "They leave room for a very small margin of error."

In the first half, the Tigers forced the Crimson to shoot a woeful 23 percent from the field and, as a result, Harvard scored just 16 first-half points.

Princeton defensive effort seemed to be focused on mounting tremendous pressure on perimeter. By fighting through picks and stay in the face of Harvard's outside shooters, the Tigers held the Crimson to just 1-11 shooting from behind the arc in the first half.

"We tried to force some things and against a defense like this, patience is the key," Sullivan added.

Harvard was, however, was quite successful in the first half at getting the ball inside to junior Kyle Snowden. Snowden responded by scoring 11 points on 5-8 shooting and also made his presence felt on the glass as he tallied seven first-half rebounds.

"In the first half, they played me straight up," Snowden said. "I got some really good looks early."

Coming out of the locker room, the Tigers made some definite defensive adjustments. Princeton began really mixing up their interior defensive scheme and, as a result, Snowden was effectively eliminated as an offensive factor. He scored just one point on only two second half shots.

"They started double-teaming me with all different people both from up high and down low. They were very dilberate in their style and they made it difficult for me to get any good looks," Snowden added.

Sullivan, however, credited the Princeton guards for Harvard's lack of inside potency.

"They were extremely well prepared, they knew exactly how we try to get the ball inside and they prevented us from doing so by really getting in the passing lanes," he said.

Even against this smothering Princeton defense, Harvard played the game extremely close by putting up a fine defensive effort of its own. The Crimson boast the nation's seventh ranked defense, and the team does so by forcing the other team out of its game.

Princeton runs a slashing motion offense and Harvard did an excellent job staying with their cutters. The Crimson forced 16 turnovers and held the Tigers without a field goal for the game's first eight minutes.

"We were trying to do things that we aren't good at," Princeton coach Pete Carril said.

"I was really pleased with our defensive effort. On that end of the court, we played well enough to win this game," Sullivan added.