The men's basketball team is headed to Amherst for the second time in two weeks, but under slightly different circumstances.
On Feb. 11, the Jumbos entered LeFrak Gymnasium looking for the regular-season title. After a 99-70 drubbing by the Lord Jeffs gave Tufts the No. 3 seed in the NESCAC tournament, a subsequent first-round win over Williams on Saturday will send the Jumbos back to Amherst to play Trinity in the tournament's semifinals.
Tufts will look for the same clutch performances that led to a thrilling 84-80 overtime win against the Bantams in Feb. 10. In that game, the Jumbos needed double-digit points from five players, a 19-point performance from sophomore Jake Weitzen off the bench, and a last-minute lay-up from sophomore Ryan O'Keefe to sink the Bantams at Ray Oosting Gymnasium.
This time around, the Jumbos should have an added edge as the game will be played on neutral ground.
"[Playing on a neutral site] is definitely an advantage," senior tri-captain Dan Martin said. "Our fans are going to come out and watch the game and the atmosphere is going to be a lot less intense. It will eliminate those factors that can hinder a team when they are on the road."
Martin highlighted the team's confidence as a huge difference between this year's semifinal game and last year's, a 60-54 loss to third-seeded Bates.
"Our confidence is definitely higher compared to this time last year," Martin said. "Last year against Bates, we didn't really feel like we could beat them, but this year, going into the game against Trinity, we are definitely really confident about our chances."
However, while external factors seem to favor the Jumbos, the team will have to be at its defensive best to stop the high-powered Trinity offense, which has centered this season on senior forward Tyler Rhoten.
Rhoten's 21 ppg are the best in the league, and he is seen by many as a lock for NESCAC Player of the Year. Equally dangerous from the floor (45.6 percent) and the perimeter (44.4 percent), the 6'6" forward will pose a serious offensive threat to the Tufts defense.
"Rhoten is definitely a big threat," senior tri-captain Brian Fitzgerald said. "He has a great chance of being Player of the Year, so we are going to have to be smart around him."
Being smart around Rhoten is something that the Jumbos did well during the teams' regular-season matchup, using a zone defense to hold Rhoten to thirteen points and get him into foul trouble during the second half.
"We played the zone and he really didn't do anything the whole night," Fitzgerald said. "Jake [Weitzen] played him really well in the first game and he really got embarrassed in front of his own crowd. We are going to use the zone again, but really as long as we play smart and keep the turnovers to a minimum, we should be fine."
Offensively, the Jumbos will look to the reliable and often explosive play of Martin. Martin is the Jumbos' leading scorer and has been tearing up defenses this year, making him a focal point of opponents' defensive strategy. Even when Martin doesn't stand out in the box score, his presence and growing reputation force teams to reexamine their defense and allows Tufts' perimeter shooters some open looks.
"There really isn't a person who can guard Dan in the conference," Fitzgerald said. "Our offense is going to heavily rely on him getting-double teamed and kicking it out to our shooters. We did that last game and had a lot of success, even though we didn't play our best."
With both teams fighting for a chance at the NESCAC championship on Sunday, the Jumbos are expecting a dogfight.
"The last game went to overtime," said Fitzgerald. "I expect this one will, too."