After dropping three consecutive games, two to NESCAC opponents, the men's basketball team is looking to get back on track this weekend with two more conference matchups. On Friday the Jumbos will take on the Colby White Mules, who stand tied with Middlebury for eighth place in the NESCAC, with an 8-10 (1-3 NESCAC) record. Following the Colby game, Tufts will travel to Bowdoin to take on the Polar Bears. Bowdoin is currently part of a three-way tie for first place with Williams and Trinity, and boasts a 13-5 overall record with a 3-1 conference mark.
The Jumbos stand alone in seventh place in the NESCAC, with a 10-8 (1-2) record after losing their last three games. Tufts went down hard to Trinity last Friday night, as a tip in with two seconds to go put the Bantams up by one, and fell in similar style to Keene State on Tuesday. However, the Jumbos are confident that the outcome of their last three contests will be a help, rather than a hindrance.
"I think it will make us more focused and even better in the clutch," freshman Reggie Stovell said. "Losses like that hurt, but they make you hungry."
Tufts has also been ravaged by injury and sickness in the last week, losing junior guard Brian Shapiro for two games with a knee injury and junior point guard Lee Neugebauer due to the flu. These losses come on top of starting point guard, sophomore Phil Barlow's season ending foot surgery. Shapiro is expected to play in Friday's game, while Neugebauer's status is still questionable.
"We were seriously undermanned in two of those games, but we still hung in there," junior Kyle Van Natta said. "You just have to try to take the positive from it."
The Jumbos will need all the confidence they can muster in taking on Bowdoin on Saturday. The Polar Bears are riding a five-game winning streak, and ravaged first place Williams 84-54 in their most recent NESCAC matchup, handing the Ephs their first loss of the season.
Senior Greg Orlicz, who currently averages 14.3 points per game, including 16.8 points in conference play, leads the Bowdoin offense. The Polar Bears also boast last week's NESCAC player of the week in junior Braden Clement. Clement averaged 19.5 points in two NESCAC wins, which thrust Bowdoin into first place. Against Williams he scored 24 points, hitting nine of 12 shots from the field, including six of eight from three-point range.
A possible advantage for the Jumbos could be their inside presence. While Bowdoin boasts three players over 6'6", including one at 6'11", none averages more than 16 minutes and three points per game. Meanwhile, Tufts freshman center 6'7" Craig Coupe has begun to establish himself down low, averaging 12.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Tufts will have to exploit this mismatch in order to come away with a win.
Before taking on Bowdoin, however, Tufts will first travel further north in Maine to take on eighth place Colby. While boasting a record of only 8-10, the Mules do possess a serious offensive threat with senior captain Damien Stahorn. Stahorn is presently averaging 21.7 points per game, to go along with his 5.1 rebounds. Also leading the way for Colby is junior Kevin Crossman, who puts up 10.2 points per game.
"Bowdoin is obviously a good team, but we're really focusing on Colby right now," Van Natta said. "We're concentrating on the task at hand."
The Jumbos will have to look to leading scorer junior Mike McGlynn for offense, particularly if Shapiro and Neugebauer are not 100 percent. McGlynn is averaging 17.2 points per game for Tufts, and scored a combined 50 points in the two games last weekend.
A healthy Shapiro would ease some of the pressure from McGlynn, as well as add a spark to the offense. Shapiro's absence was evident in the Jumbos' loss to Keene State, as the team was hounded by the Keene State press all night.
"It was tough not having [Shapiro] in there when they were pressing," Van Natta said. "We really missed him a lot, but hopefully he'll be ready to go on Friday."
Regardless of the status of their injured players, the Jumbos feel they will be ready to go when game time comes.
"We've had tough streaks like this before," Stovell said. "Tomorrow at practice we'll try to re-establish some things, and I think we'll bounce back."
With only six NESCAC games remaining, each contest becomes more important for Tufts if it wishes to have a berth in the postseason. The Jumbos square off against Colby at 7 p.m. on Friday, before heading south to take on the Polar Bears at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
