Just three seconds into a non-conference men's basketball matchup between the Princeton University Tigers and Elon University Phoenix, Princeton senior forward Ian Hummer took the tip-off win by freshman forward Hans Brace to the basket for an easy lay-up. One minute later, Tigers junior forward Will Barrett hit a three-pointer to give Princeton an early five-point advantage.
The rest of the game wasn't much different as Princeton defeated Elon 74-64 Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gym.
The Tigers (6-7 overall, 0-0 Ivy League) were the more aggressive team all afternoon, using 32 points in the paint and 57.1 percent shooting from three-point range to their advantage. Add that to an Elon team junior Jack Isenbarger described as "tentative" in the first 20 minutes, the math worked out.
"We made a lot of mistakes, tentatively in the first half especially, but in both halves," he said. "Coach (Matt Matheny) talks about, if we're going to make a mistake, making a mistake of aggression, attacking, playing full-heartedly, and if we make a mistake, okay, but if we make a mistake, being tentative, back on our heels, giving them an open look when we could fire out at a shooter, getting a hand up, those are the mistakes you can't live with, you can't accept. That's why it hurts a little more, I think."
The thing is, Elon (8-6, 1-1 Southern Conference) did not play all that bad. The Phoenix shot 50 percent from the field in the first half and 47.2 percent for the game and hit 40 percent of its three-pointers, all numbers part of a steady uptick of shooting that has shown struggles this season. But a defense that was limiting opponents to 39.8 percent shooting this year allowed a lot of open shots from the perimeter and some free drives in the lane.
"There was a lot of times where we made a simple mistake of staring at the ball or not coming to the trap or not being where we're supposed to be and that's what is the biggest pain," said Elon junior forward Lucas Troutman, who had 14 points and four rebounds. "It's stuff we know to do, stuff we do every single day, and yet, for some reason, we weren't there or we weren't helping or something like that."
With 13:21 left in the first half, Troutman finished an alley-oop from sophomore guard Austin Hamilton to make the score 15-13. The Tigers then went on a 14-6 run to pull to a ten-point lead with 7:45 remaining in the first period. Barrett scored all 17 of his points in the first half on 6-0f-10 shooting, knocking down five treys, a few times wide-open.
Although Elon finished the half on a 9-2 streak, the 41-32 deficit was too much of a hole.
"We dug ourselves way too big of a hole," Matheny said. "You can't dig that type of a hole against a team like Princeton who is good and who plays every possession for 40 minutes. They were the more aggressive team."
In the second half, the Phoenix managed a bit more aggression thanks to an abnormal use of a clipboard.
With 8:33 left in the game, Hummer, who tied a career-high with 28 points, slammed home a dunk over Troutman to give Princeton a 57-41 lead. Matheny called a timeout and took an emphatic approach, yelling at his players and spiking that clipboard.
Somewhat inspired, Elon came out with a 18-8 run over the next seven minutes to make the score 65-59 with 1:37 left. Isenbarger, who had just five points in the first half, scored 11 points in the run to finish with 16 points on the afternoon.
"It was really just a wake-up call, telling us to get our heads in the game," Troutman said. "When you have someone up in your face yelling at you, you usually tend to respond."
But it was not enough as Princeton managed to keep pace with Elon's attack, nailing 9-of-12 free throws over the final 1:35 and allowing just two Elon field goals to come away with the win.
Despite not being happy with the loss, Matheny was encouraged by the run near the end of the game.
"What you saw the last eight, nine, ten minutes of the game was an attacking offense," Matheny added. "We wished we had done that the whole game, and hopefully we'll learn from that. We were a little tentative at times. They way (Princeton was) playing defense, if you're not careful, it can encourage that and we took the bait. I think Princeton's good, but I think we have a chance to be good too."
Elon will face Appalachian State University Jan. 12 in the Phoenix's first SoCon game since Dec. 2.