Basketball: Whoop that Trick, yeah, Whoop that Trick

• Just back from the post-game press conference, and Kent State is getting fired up in the tunnel again with its awesome team cheer. The tricks they'll be trying to whoop this evening are the IUPUI Jaguars. The two teams will play for the right to take on the winner of tonight's Ohio State-Loyola game in the BCA Classic Championship game tomorrow.
• Princeton, meanwhile, after holding on for a 73-68 win this afternoon against VMI, will play Alabama A&M in the fifth-place game tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. "Dispatches from the sidelines" will be posting on the event live (the game could start shortly after 2, depending on how long the seventh-place game between SDSU and VMI takes).
• Alabama A&M defeated San Diego State in today's first game (right before the Tigers played) by a score of 70-66. In the post-game press conference, Scott talked about Alabama A&M's "junk defense," which isn't really a zone and isn't really man-to-man. The Tigers will have less than 24 hours to watch video of Alabama A&M and prepare for the game. Princeton did a good job preparing for VMI on short notice, however--a considerable task considering the Keydets' notoriously up-tempo style of play. Coach Scott said he made a few phone calls last night to people familiar with how VMI plays, and as a result, Princeton was able to hold VMI to less than half the number of points (68) the Keydets were putting up in their exhibition season.
• Scott was quite happy with the team's effort, reserving the most praise for his two freshmen, Gunn and Schroeder. Gunn hit the biggest shot of the game for the Tigers (a contested three that put Princeton up 67-62 with 33 seconds left and ended a 15-0 VMI run). Schroeder had 7 assists, again the only Tiger to play all 40 minutes.
  
• Scott felt Owings gave him everything he could have in his 16 minutes of play (14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and 5 rebounds) but that Owings' limited minutes (like last night) were a result of his recovery from a sprained ankle.
• Junior forward Kyle Koncz, who finished with 13 points, 3 threes and 4 assists, called Schroeder a "damn good guard who doesn't turn the ball over."
  
• Senior foward Justin Conway, who led the Tigers with 15 points and 6 rebounds, praised the team's improvement in interior defense and rebounding, while emphasizing that continued improvement is necessary. Along with Conway, sophomore center Mike Strittmatter and senior guard Edwin Buffmire also posted 6 rebounds.
• Another reminder: tomorrow afternoon's game against Alabama A&M will be played tomorrow at 2 p.m. or shortly thereafter, with "Dispatches from the sidelines" on hand again. The Tigers will look to start their season 2-1, which would also match their win total from the ENTIRE NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE LAST YEAR.