Courtesy: Army Athletic Communications http://www.goarmysports.com Josh Miller leads the Black Knights with four three-pointers through two games.

WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Army men's basketball team will attempt to win its second straight game when it travels to Jadwin Gymnasium to face the unbeaten Princeton Tigers. The Black Knights cracked the win column last time out with a 63-56 win over Long Island University on Tuesday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.

Saturday’s game starts a stretch of three consecutive Ivy League opponents. After the Princeton game, Army will host Harvard on Monday, Nov. 23 and Yale on Saturday, Nov. 28. Generating scouting reports should not be an issue for the Black Knights versus the Ivy League foes. Head coach Zach Spiker spent the five previous seasons at Cornell where he helped the Big Red to the last two conference championships. Cornell posted a 50-20 Ivy League record during his time in Ithaca.

Despite the game not being on the radio, a live audio stream will be available online via www.goARMYsports.com’s Knight Vision package. Subscription fees apply. Nikolai Busko will call the action from Jadwin Gymnasium.

ARMY QUICK HITTERS
• Sophomore G Julian Simmons has done his best impression of former Detroit Pistons’ guard Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson in the early going. Simmons is Army’s leading scorer at 14.0 points per game. His 28 total points came in only 24 minutes of work off the bench. Simmons is averaging an astronomical 46.7 points per 40 minutes.

• Senior G Tyrell Thompson scored in double figures in each of Army’s first two games. It was the first time in his career that he recorded consecutive games with at least 10 points.

• Army trailed LIU at halftime, 23-21. The Black Knights outscored the Blackbirds 42-33 after halftime to take the win. It snapped Army’s 16-game losing streak when down at intermission. Prior to the LIU game, the last time the Black Knights overcame a halftime deficit was on Feb. 27, 2008. Army trailed Lafayette 28-23 at halftime, but earned a 65-60 victory.

• Senior F Cleveland Richard had his six-game streak of games with at least 10 points stopped versus LIU. While his scoring output wasn’t up to its usual standard, Richard still paced the Black Knights with career-high totals of eight rebounds and six assists. Through two games, Richard is averaging 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while still scoring at an 11.5 points-per-game clip.

• The Black Knights came out firing in the second half of each of their first two games. In the first two games, Army averaged 28.5 points and shot 36.4 percent in the first half. In the second half, those averages jumped to 46.0 points and 57.6 percent from the floor.

ABOUT PRINCETON
Princeton has started the season with two straight victories. The Tigers upended Central Michigan on the road, 71-68, to open the campaign. They took down Manhattan in their home opener last Wednesday, 61-54.

The Tigers have three players averaging in double figures. Zach Finley and Dan Mavraides pace the squad at 14.5 points per contest, while Douglas Davis is scoring at a 10.0 points per game clip, including 16 points off the bench against the Chippewas. Finley also leads the team with 5.0 rebounds per game. Mavraides has done the  majority of his damage from the three-point line, hitting five of his first 11 attempts.

After finishing tied for second behind Cornell in the Ivy League standings last season, the Tigers were again picked to finish second behind the Big Red in 2009-10. Davis led the team last season at 12.3 points per contest, while Mavraides scored 10.3 points per game in 2008-09.

THE ARMY-PRINCETON SERIES
• Princeton leads the all-time series with Army, 23-12. The two teams first met on the hardwood during the 1904-05 season.

• The two teams were regular rivals in the first half of the 20th century, however last season’s meeting at Christl Arena was the first game between th two schools since the the Rainbow Classic in Hawai’i on Dec. 29, 1979.

• Since 1949, the Tigers have won all five meetings versus the Black Knights on their home floor.

INSIDE THE SERIES
All-Time Record: Princeton leads, 23-12
At West Point: Princeton leads, 4-3 (since 1949)
At Princeton: Princeton leads, 5-0 (since 1949)
At Neutral Site: Tied, 1-1 (since 1949)
Last Army Win: Dec. 29, 1979 (53-52 at Hawai’i)
Last Princeton Win: Nov. 23, 2008 (55-43 at West Point)
Series Streak: Princeton W1
Largest Army Margin: +33 (67-34; 1945)
Largest Princeton Margin: +21 (70-49; 1965-66)

LAST YEAR'S MEETING
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Princeton outscored Army 30-17 in the second half to turn a one-point halftime deficit into a 55-43 victory. The Black Knights’ led 26-25 at intermission, but made just 6 of 25 shots after halftime.
  
Nathan Hedgecock led the Black Knights with nine points, all in the first half. It marked the first time since the 2007-08 season opener at Minnesota that Army did not have at least one player score at least 10 points. Marcus Nelson had eight points and a team-high six rebounds. It was the third time in four games the 5-11 guard was Army’s top rebounder.
    
The 43 points marked Army’s lowest offensive output since 49-40 loss at American on Feb. 20, 2008.
 
Princeton’s Doug Davis led all scorers with 19 points on 8 of 11 shooting. He was the only player in the game to reach double figures. Patrick Saunders and Kareem Maddox tied for team honors with five rebounds, and Maddox dished out a game-high four assists.
   
While the Black Knights struggled from the floor in the second half, the Tigers hit 47.6 percent from the field (10-21) in the second 20 minutes. Princeton did most of its damage in the first half from the perimeter, hitting five of 11 three-point attempts, but in the second half, the Tigers went inside with 14 of their 30 points coming in the paint.
    
Army shot 47.1 percent in the first half, but turned the ball over 11 times that led to eight Princeton points. The Tigers shot 42.9 percent overall, but were 5 of 11 (45.5 percent) from three-point range in the first 20 minutes. 
  
Army went from the 12:35 mark to the 2:18 point of the second half without a field goal, a span of 10 minutes and 17 seconds. Army missed all five of its shot attempts during that time.
 
The loss snapped Army’s three-game winning streak at Christl Arena.

AVOIDING THE SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Second-year G Julian Simmons is off to a fast start after a stanout plebe season that put him on the Patriot League All-Rookie Team in 2008-09. Simmons is Army’s leading scorer at 14.0 points per game despite playing only 12.0 minutes per contest.

Simmons led the squad with 15 points against LIU. It was his fourh double-digit game in his last seven outings. He is averaging 11.2 points per game in that stretch.

The Katy, Texas native has not needed a  lot of playing time to produce his scoring. In his 30 career games, Simmons is averaging 19.3 points per 40 minutes of playing time, including an unbeliveable 46.7 points per 40 minutes this season.

The three-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week was third on the team in scoring at 7.4 points per game last season. He led the Black Knights with 39 three-pointers. He finished his first Patriot League season at 8.9 points per game, third-best on the squad.

Simmons’ 207 points were the most by an Army rookie since J.P. Spatola had 217 points in 2000-01.

UP NEXT ...
Army starts a three-game homestand on Monday, Nov. 23 versus Harvard. Tip-off at Christl Arena is set for 7 p.m.