Men’s Basketball Travels to Division I Princeton

Dec. 27 - (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men’s basketball team will travel to Princeton, N.J., Wednesday, December 28 to take on Division I Ivy League opponent, Princeton University. The tip is set for 7:30 p.m. at Jadwin Gymnasium.

This marks the fourth meeting between the two schools with Princeton leading the series 2-1. The first ever meeting was in 1920 in Princeton with the Tigers winning 35-17. The last meeting between the two schools was February 14, 1932 in Pittsburgh at Skibo Gymnasium, as Carnegie Tech came away with a 30-15 victory. The only other meeting came in 1924, as the Tigers defeated the Tartans 52-50 in Princeton.

This marks the twelfth Division I opponent the Tartans have faced in Head Coach Tony Wingen’s 16-year tenure at Carnegie Mellon. Most recently, the Tartans played the University of Pittsburgh last season in an exhibition game falling 97-70 at the Peterson Event Center after leading 45-43 at the half.

Carnegie Mellon is coming off a 79-74 come from behind victory at Union College Saturday, December 10 taking the school record breaking start to 9-0. The Tartans trailed by as many as 15 points in the contest, but scored the last 12 points over the last 3:30 and were led by senior Marques Johnson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair). He scored 21 of his career-high 27 points in the second half in helping the Tartans to the four-point victory.

Senior Nate Maurer (Pittsburgh, Pa./Linsly School) leads the Tartans with 20.6 points per game followed by senior Clayton Barlow-Wilcox (Brookline, Mass.) averaging 15.9 and a team best 9.3 rebounds per contest and 35 assists. Johnson and senior A.J. Straub (St. Marys, Pa./Elk County Catholic) average 11.9 points per game apiece. Johnson’s 32 assists and 6.8 rebounds per game are the team’s second best behind Barlow-Wilcox.

Senior Bary Dunn (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Alderdice) and junior Greg Gonzalez (Southlake, Texas/Carroll) are averaging 8.7 and 7.4 points per game coming off the bench.

Princeton University is currently riding a three game losing streak heading into Wednesday’s contest against Carnegie Mellon. The Tigers dropped a 58-34 decision to Stanford Wednesday, December 21 dropping to 2-7 on the season. Princeton shot just 33% for the game from the floor to Stanford’s 49%. The Cardinals converted 6-of-10 from behind the arc, as the Tigers hit 7-of-21.

Princeton is led by freshman Noah Savage averaging 11.2 points per game, starting in all nine games. Mt. Lebanon High School 2005 graduate Geoff Kestler, is the only other Tiger to start every game this season, as he knocks in 2.7 points per game averaging 18 minutes and is second on the team with eight steals.

The Tigers have not given up more than 62 points in a single game this season, as the Tartans lowest outing this season was a 72-71 victory at Rochester. The Tartans are averaging 91.6 points per contest while the opposition is scoring 75.3. Princeton is allowing their opponents 55.2, while scoring just 43.7 points per game, scoring 60 or more points once.

Following the Princeton game, Carnegie Mellon will be idle until January 2 when they travel to Bluffton University for a 7:30 p.m. tip.