One week after running its conference record to 4-0 with big wins over Williams and Middlebury, the men's basketball team is looking to keep its hot streak going this weekend with road games against the Wesleyan Cardinals and Connecticut College Camels.
"We've got a lot of momentum right now," coach Bob Sheldon said. "We're 4-0 in the conference going into two conference games. Things are rolling right now. We got a big win against Williams and then came up with a gutsy win against Middlebury."
Having won nine of their last 12 games, the Jumbos have their sights set high.
"The goal is first place [in the conference]," freshman Jake Weitzen said. "If we have to go undefeated, then we'll go undefeated. We just have to win and then win in the tournament."
The Jumbos, sitting tied atop the NESCAC, will continue that quest for a conference title this weekend at Wesleyan and Connecticut College. To retain its spot top, Tufts likely will have to beat both teams.
The Jumbos will open the weekend at 7 p.m. tonight against the Cardinals. While Wesleyan's conference record is just 2-2, Sheldon foresees a tough matchup.
"They beat Williams and Middlebury, the two teams we just beat and they lost to [No. 5] Amherst and [No. 25] Trinity who are two of the top teams in New England right now," Sheldon said. "Despite the fact that we're 4-0 and they're 2-2, this is definitely going to be a battle."
Indeed, Wesleyan was 2-0 in the conference and 11-5 overall heading into this weekend. The team could not handle road games against Amherst and Trinity, however. The losses dropped the Cardinals to 11-7 overall.
With the Jumbo offense clicking right now - averaging 83.1 points per game this year - the team is most concerned about defense.
The Cardinal offense will be tough to stop because Wesleyan has two big scorers. While the Cardinals are led by senior guard Tim Holland, who is averaging 17.9 points a game, he is aided by 6'7" junior center Robert Kelly, who is averaging 16.4 points and 10.1 rebounds a game.
Stopping these two scorers is the priority for the game.
"We've been playing great defense," Weitzen said. "Dan [Martin] and Reggie [Stovell] have been playing really tough in the post and Drew [Kaklamanos] has been great, too. Everyone else has to lock down on the two scorers."
The Jumbos' test will be made more difficult by the fact that they will be playing their fourth and fifth games on an eight game road trip.
"It's always tougher to shoot in somebody else's gym," Weitzen said. "Also, the crowd might get into some people's heads. They try to heckle and try to bother you."
If the team can overcome the Cardinals in their gym on Friday, Tufts will head to Connecticut College on Saturday looking for a perfect 6-0 conference record. The Camels, a team with only two upperclassmen, are considered the less formidable team the Jumbos will face this weekend as they are winless in the conference.
"Connecticut College is down a little this year," Sheldon said. "They're a young team, with all freshmen and sophomores. They have a new head coach and these are his guys. They're going to try to catch somebody by surprise."
Weitzen echoed Sheldon's concern.
"Connecticut College is typically a weak team, but in the NESCAC any team can beat any other team on any day," Weitzen said. "If we take them lightly, they'll beat us."
The Jumbos are looking at this game as a possible cushion and confidence builder before the team moves to the part of the schedule where it must play Bates, Trinity and Amherst, arguably the three best teams in the conference.
"If we can get both wins, we are going into the toughest part of the schedule undefeated," Weitzen said. "If we take care of these two games, we can only improve."
Yet, Sheldon sees a more immediate ramification of winning the two games this weekend.
"We want to play a home game [in the NESCAC Tournament]," Sheldon said. "Obviously, we'd like to win the whole thing, but our first goal right now is to get a home game."
