When the Jumbos open up the NESCAC tournament against the Williams Ephs this Saturday, they will be facing the only team to have beaten them at Cousens Gym this season.
Tufts is 10-1 at Cousens this year, with the only blemish coming in a last-second 82-80 loss to the Ephs on Jan. 20. But because the Jumbos were able to defeat Trinity on the road last weekend, earning the No. 3 seed, they will have the chance to avenge that loss.
"There's definitely going to be some fire in some guys," sophomore guard Jeremy Black said. "[Williams] hit some tough shots at the end of the game [last time]. Our guys think we're a better team. We had the lead the whole game. We kind of choked up at the end there, but we're excited to go out there and get a little redemption."
When the Jumbos see Williams this time around, they will know what to expect. Averaging over 28 three-point attempts per game, the Ephs score 44 percent of their points from beyond the arc. That reliance on the three-point shot makes Williams a streaky team, but also a dangerous one.
"They have a lot of good shooters, so if they're on it's going to be tough to beat them," junior guard Dacson Sears said. "But if they're off, anybody in the NESCAC can beat them."
Williams shot well in its last trip to Cousens Gym. In that game, the Ephs hit 15 of their 30 three-point attempts, including an 11-of-16 performance in the second half that chipped away at the lead Tufts had held throughout most of the game.
The Jumbos thought they had the game wrapped up when senior tri-captain Dan Martin grabbed an offensive rebound with 28 seconds left, put the ball back in and drew a foul. The free throw gave the Jumbos an 80-79 lead, but Williams' Chris Shalvoy nailed a three with 11 seconds left and junior tri-captain Dave Shepherd could not convert his off-balance attempt at a game-tying buzzer-beater.
While the Ephs have proven how dangerous they can be, the team has struggled of late. Needing to match Tufts' win total this past weekend to earn home-court advantage, the Ephs stumbled twice, falling to Bowdoin and Colby. After having had an outside chance to steal the NESCAC regular season championship, the Ephs instead enter the tournament as a sixth seed.
Still, the Tufts players recognize that they must avoid the defensive lapses that allowed a Williams victory in January.
"We were helping out a little too much on defense," Black said. "Guys were getting a step on their guy and we were helping out and leaving our man. You've got to account for your man at all times."
Like the Ephs, the Jumbos are also entering the tournament on a losing note. After upsetting Trinity on the road last Friday, Tufts was defeated in a blowout game against Amherst the next day in a game that decided the conference championship. The Tufts players are trying to use the humbling loss as motivation.
"It kind of plays into our psyche just a little bit knowing that we might not be the best team in the NESCAC right now," Sears said. "I think it's going to make us play that much harder. We had to play at such a high level against Amherst that we're going to show Williams something we didn't show them in the last game."
According to the players, the week off between the Amherst game and Saturday's Williams game is crucial. Heading into the Amherst game the day after a tough overtime matchup with Trinity, several Jumbos cited fatigue and illness as a major factor in the defeat.
In response to this problem, coach Bob Sheldon gave his team an additional day off, resting the players on both Monday and Tuesday.
The team's victory over Trinity last
weekend affords it the luxury of home-court advantage and avoiding a long bus ride. Instead, the Jumbos will play on a court on which they have had success all year.
"Home court is really big, especially in the NESCAC because there are so many teams in our conference that are so tough," Sears said. "We wake up and we know there are going to be so many of our people at the game. That gets us so psyched. The shots just go in. We know the rims and we just shoot better at home."
