Coming off two impressive wins last weekend against Bowdoin and Colby, the men's basketball team heads into its last NESCAC weekend sitting in third place and on pace to host a first round NESCAC playoff game. The Jumbos, who are 11-10 overall (5-2, NESCAC), sit only one game behind first place Williams and Amherst, and are a game ahead of Bates, Trinity, and Wesleyan.
Tonight, the Jumbos travel to Vermont to take on the 13-9 (2-5, NESCAC) Middlebury Panthers. The Panthers, who have lost three straight contests, are currently ranked seventh in the conference and are barely holding on to one of the final playoff spots. The game may be a closer matchup than these records indicate, however, as the Panthers are a solid 5-2 at home this season, while the Jumbos are a mediocre 7-8 on the road. The Jumbos have defeated the Panthers in two of the past three seasons, including a blowout 113-88 victory at Cousens Gym last year.
"Middlebury has a lot of outside shooters," freshman forward Blaine Lay said. "So we've sort of tailored our defensive strategy this week to guard against the outside shot, similar to last weekend. If we beat Middlebury, we will secure a home playoff spot in the NESCAC tournament, so we're really focusing hard on winning this game."
After facing Middlebury the Jumbos hit the road once again, travelling to Willams College less than 24 hours later for their final game of the regular season. Williams comes into the game with a stifling 20-1 overall record, and a 6-1 conference record, putting them in a tie atop the NESCAC. Their one loss this season came at the hands of the Amherst Lord Jeffs, their co-leader, just over a month ago. The Ephs are currently ranked third in the nation and first in New England, and are undefeated at home this season.
Facing a national powerhouse is nothing new to the Jumbos, who squared off with then number one in the NESCAC, number one in New England, and number three in the nation Amherst just two weeks ago and dominated every facet of the game, en route to winning by 17 points.
"We're mainly worrying about Middlebury as of now, but we will definitely be up for Williams because they are one of the top teams in the country," Lay added. "We need to stay focused as a team, and if we beat Middlebury, that'll be three straight wins under our belt and we'll definitely go in there ready to play."
Despite being on the road for this stretch, the Jumbos hope to emulate their performance against Amherst this weekend against both Middlebury and Williams. The offense will once again revolve around the inside game of 6'8 sophomore center Craig Coupe, who is second on the team with fourteen points per game. He also leads the team and is 11th in the country with 11 rebounds per game.
In addition, the Jumbos also look to the scoring and leadership from senior captains Brian Shapiro and Jim Wilson, and senior guard Mike McGlynn to carry them through the weekend. To be successful this weekend Tufts needs McGlynn, who leads the team with 18 PPG, to be on target, especially against Williams. The guard currently has 302 career three pointers, just one shy of the top-20 all time list for Div. III. McGlynn became a member of the elite 300-club on Senior Day this past Saturday in the Jumbos victory against Colby.
The Jumbos offensive weapons don't end with McGlynn either, as the defining trait of this Tufts' team is its depth. Sophomore Reggie Stovell, juniors Deyvehn East and Eric Mack and freshmen Lay and Dan Martin all have contributed greatly to the success over the past two weeks, and will play a huge role in the team's performance this weekend.
"I think that having such a deep group of guys gives us the extra confidence that we need because if a starter needs to rest, someone else can come in and play just as hard," Lay added. "In my opinion, we have 8-10 guys that could start on this team and most teams, and not only does it give us the confidence we need in games, but also, in practice, we just work that much harder."
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