Tufts finds itself in a familiar position heading into tomorrow afternoon's first round of the NESCAC championship: as the second seed in the tournament, hosting the Middlebury Panthers.
In a rematch of last year's NESCAC Tournament opener, which Tufts won 65-50, the Jumbos host the seventh-seeded Panthers in Cousens Gym. Tufts earned the second seed last weekend with consecutive victories over Bowdoin and Colby to close the regular season.
The Jumbos are enjoying the best season in team history, with a 21-2 record and a No. 15 ranking in the D3hoops.com polls. Although they were 7-2 this year in the conference, a last-second loss to No. 1 seed Amherst served as the tiebreaker that put them behind the Lord Jeffs.
The Panthers (13-11, 4-5 NESCAC) sneaked into the seventh spot last weekend following a lackluster 36-32 win over Wesleyan. But Middlebury stumbled the following day, falling to a Conn. College team that entered the weekend with no conference wins.
The Panthers hosted Tufts just two weeks ago in a game in which the Jumbos rode one of their signature second-half runs to a 61-46 win. In the victory, Tufts held only a three-point halftime lead but came out firing after the break, using a 19-3 run in the first 10 minutes of the second half to blow the game wide open.
Freshman guard Colleen Hart led the way for the Jumbos, and the Panthers did not have an answer for Tufts' floor general. Hart collected a double-double, with 10 boards and a game-high 18 points. The Jumbos dominated the glass as a whole, grabbing 52 rebounds to Middlebury's 32.
But despite the final score, the win was not the Jumbos' best of the season and was far from the kind of basketball they played last weekend. Tufts shot only 35 percent from the field, and the Panthers held leading scorer Khalilah Ummah to just six points. Tufts' defense, however, was up to the task, holding Middlebury to just 28 percent from the floor and keeping the Panthers well under their average of 61 points per game.
"I think it will be a tough game," Hart said of tomorrow's contest. "They know what we are going to try to do. We didn't play our best against them; in the first half it was ugly, and then we came around. I think we just need to be ready and pretend they are like any other team."
The Jumbos will need to get a sizable lead against the Panthers, who have made it a habit of playing close games against good teams, particularly in their league schedule. Middlebury had five games decided by less than five points and went 4-1 in those matchups.
The backcourt duo of juniors Ashley Barron and Emily Johnson give Middlebury two players averaging in double figures, while senior Lani Young has averaged 9.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Young and Johnson combined for 23 points in the regular-season game against Tufts but did not receive much help from their teammates, as the Panthers bench scored just eight points.
The Jumbos' inspired play as of late has been a much-needed response to their worst game of the season, a 17-point loss Feb. 9 at the hands of Williams. While defense has been at the center of coach Carla Berube's strategy, the Tufts offense has been particularly impressive in its last two victories, breaking the 80-point mark in both games. For a team that prides itself on defense, leading the NESCAC in both opponent's scoring average and opponent's field goal percentage, keeping up this recent offensive outburst can only make the Jumbos more dangerous.
"I think a lot of our offensive comes from our defense," Berube said. "Our defense is pretty solid. Besides some of the fouls we had on Saturday, it was a pretty solid weekend on the defensive end and it led to some easy baskets, which means a high field goal percentage."
Last year's win over Middlebury helped propel the Jumbos all the way to the tournament finals, where they hung tough before bowing out to Bowdoin. With the Polar Bears, winners of seven straight NESCAC championships, suffering a down year, the window is wide open for another team to wrest away the crown.
"It is definitely a different year than years past," Berube said. "Bowdoin is not the same team, but I still think that until you knock them out, they are still the reigning champs. I do think it is wide open and that is our goal. We are looking toward a big win on Saturday here to make it to the semis."
