Princeton coach Mitch Henderson knew he was going to have to throw some of his freshmen into the deep end given that his roster had no seniors on it.
Landon Clark has started to tread water and make progress toward being an impact player.
The 6-8, 200-pound rookie out of Bangor, Maine, helped the Tigers snap an eight-game skid in the non-conference finale with season bests in points (12) and rebounds (8).
“I think it’s about time I step up because guys like (Jack) Stanton, (Jackson) Hicke and Malik (Abdullahi) have been here and been through this whole stretch of 15 games and I, honestly, haven’t played as well as I need to for us to win,” Clark said. “I still made plenty of mistakes, but hopefully made enough contributions to push us to the win. … Those guys have been going all year and it was time for me to step up and say ‘hey I got to do my part.’
Clark certainly did that in the overtime victory against Vermont, particularly in the last four minutes of regulation and the extra period. He tipped out a missed free throw to earn an extra possession late in regulation and scored a tough basket early in the OT as Princeton surged back in front.
“Coach talks a lot about break that door down,” Clark said. “We were saying on the court we got to break it down, break it down, break it down. There was never any thought of we aren’t winning this game. Really there hasn’t been in any of the games that haven’t gone our way, but we stayed the same mentally and it went for us.”
Clark has started 10 of the 15 games — he’s logged at least 25 minutes in all 10 of his starts — and is averaging 4.2 points and 4.3 rebounds overall.
Henderson said Clark reminds him some of Matt Allocco, a popular player who was a stalwart on the Tigers’ Sweet 16 team.
“He’s loud, he’s got a big personality, he’s very compliant with the coaches,” Henderson said. “He does everything we ask him to do, but he’s got big personality and he’s very coachable. He’s fast, he’s tall. We’re just so fortunate he’s been able to step into this role.”
A role that Clark is becoming more comfortable in with/ each passing.
“I’m in there to play very hard and try to make as many extra effort plays as I can,” Clark said. “Score when I have to score, score when there is a mismatch, but really try to get the ball to Stanton, Hicke and Malik the best that I can.”
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Princeton has defeated Penn 13 straight times to even the all-time series at 126-apiece.
This is the first time the series has been tied since it was 3-all following a 28-20 Tigers victory on Feb. 18, 1905. Princeton has never led in the series.
The Quakers (7-6) are under the direction of Fran McCaffery, a former player at the school, who had gone on to successful head coaching stints at Lehigh, UNC Greensboro, Siena and Iowa before returning to Philadelphia.
“They are far different, a totally different group,” Henderson said. “They got really good players, so whatever success we’e had in the past that’s gone. We all know it’s game one in the league and we’ve played Penn a lot to open up the season. It’s going to be a really tough game.”
Both teams have been operating short of a full deck of late.
Penn has been without Ethan Roberts (18 ppg) since he took a shot to the face during the Big 5 Classic championship game against Villanova on Dec. 6.
Princeton (4-11) has been minus Dalen Davis (16.5 ppg) for the last nine games after he injured his right ankle against Northeastern on Nov. 20.
“I have no idea,” Henderson said when asked about Davis’ availability. “Fingers crossed and doing little dances every day. Hopefully, he gets better.”