JULIA TIERNAN/YH Jason Williams, PC '00, and the Elis must overcome road woes.

Stunning upset inspires Elis for rest of season

The relief on basketball coach James Jones's face was palpable during the post-game press conference. His Bulldogs had defeated first-place Princeton, 44-42, minutes before on Sat., Feb. 5, in front of a season-high crowd. Among the 2,811 at the game were nearly 20 former Bulldogs in town for the team's alumni weekend, including Butch Graves, TC '84, Yale's all-time leading scorer, and New York Knick Chris Dudley, TD '87.

As Jones ended the con-ference, a newspaper report-er who came from outside of New Haven to cover the game said, "I came here with one column in mind, and I ended up with another." Jones replied, "You're damn right."

Less than 24 hours earlier, Jones and his players were sitting dejectedly in the locker room after a crushing 61-36 loss to Pennsylvania (4-0, 11-7 Ivy). After guard Onaje Woodbine, BK '02, hit a three-pointer seven minutes into the game to make the score 8-7, Penn outscored the Bulldogs 40-9 over the next 21 minutes.

Jones talked to his players after the game for 10 minutes. "He said, `Guys, this is a tough loss, but if we come out against Princeton and play the way we're capable of, in a sense, we'll erase everything,'" according to Woodbine. Despite his encouraging words to the players, Jones was in what he called "a depressed state." He didn't sleep on Friday night, and came into the office at 7:30 a.m. the next morning, ready to talk to his players.

He told them that Princeton often beats teams psychologically, by frustrating them with three-pointers and backdoor layups that can be more aggravating than the point value they represent. His players responded by playing consistently for the entire 40 minutes, something they have struggled to do all season. The Tigers made only two of 16 three-pointers and successfully executed only one or two backdoor cuts.

Attendance at Yale home games is second in the league, and it has been steadily rising. But Yale's next four games are on the road, and the Bulldogs haven't won a road game since they beat Dartmouth in the last game of the 1997-98 season. That's 25 straight road losses.

M. Basketball

Record: 6-13, 4-2 Ivy Recent Results: Lost vs. Penn, 61-36; won vs. Princeton, 44-42 Coming Up: Fri., Feb. 11 at Cornell, 7:00 p.m.; Sat., Feb. 12 vs. Columbia, 7:30 p.m.

To overcome their road woes, Yale will have to have to be at full strength. Isaiah Cavaco, JE '01, is one of the Elis' best perimeter players, but he has watched many of Yale's road losses from the bench, having missed most of the season due to injury. However, his recovery from two knee surgeries is ahead of schedule. He will suit up for games against Cornell on Fri., Feb. 11 and Columbia the next night, but he was not sure if he would return to action this weekend or the next. "I can't really explode the way I want to," Cavaco said. Nevertheless, he would give Jones an option off the bench to relieve Woodbine and point guard Chris Leanza, SY '03, both of whom are averaging over 35 minutes a game.

Whether Cavaco returns or not, the Bulldogs will have to contend with unfriendly crowds, something they have not handled well this year. Captain John Kirkowski, MC '00, recognized this weakness and talked to Pat O'Neill, Yale's Marketing Coordinator for Athletics, about the possibility of chartering buses to bring fans to the Brown game in Providence on Sat., Jan. 29. It was decided to send a bus only if there was an outpouring of requests by students. This did not happen, no bus was sent, and Yale lost by eight points, after having defeated Brown by 14 at home the previous Friday. Kirkowski talked to O'Neill again this week about chartering a bus for the Columbia game, and again, because there were not enough e-mails from students requesting a bus, the athletic department decided not to charter one. "We never really had such excitement and energy level as we have right now," Kirkowski said. "If there was a possibility of a fan bus, it would be great thing for the team. It would kind of be like having home-court advantage on the road."

Cornell is also a threat. "Cornell is more dangerous than Columbia because they can make a run at you," Cavaco said. Cornell is led by forward Ray Mercedes '01 and guard Wallace Prather '02, who each average nearly 14 points per game. "At Cornell, they have their rowdy section that sits behind their bench," Penn guard Michael Jordan '00 said. "Once [Cornell] got going in the second half, the crowd went wild."

The Bulldogs are 4-2 and are in as good a position as any team in the league to challenge Penn for the title, but first they must be able to show they can withstand a run by a team energized by its crowd. "If you can't win on the road, you're not a championship team," Woodbine said.

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