In spite of two tough conference losses this past weekend, the men's basketball team is having a pretty darn good season. It has clinched a spot in the NESCAC tournament for the first time since 2007 and has at least some control over which team it will face in the first round.
A win over Bates on Saturday afternoon would ensure an opponent outside the top three in the league: nationally ranked Amherst, Williams or Middlebury.
It has been nearly two weeks since the Jumbos' last conference win and, after two second-half unravelings over the weekend, the team is in desperate need of a morale-boosting victory.
They should have a golden chance to do so against Gordon College at Cousens Gym tonight.
"We need a win [tonight] for our confidence," junior tri-captain James Long said. "A win guarantees a .500 record. … Basically, there's a lot riding on [tonight's] game. But it's really about getting back to basics and getting a chance to improve on things from last weekend."
The Fighting Scots may be the perfect non-league opponent to put the Jumbos' season back on track. At 9-12, Gordon has seen limited success in the weaker Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC), and has been dismantled by both Bates and Wesleyan in out-of-league play 85-37 and 81-52, respectively.
Still, the Jumbos will have to play good basketball for 40 minutes if they wish to avoid late-game comebacks. Tufts will be looking for bigger numbers from junior guard Amauris Quezada and for sophomore forward Scott Anderson to stay out of foul trouble to support hot-shooting freshman Kwame Firempong and sophomore Alex Goldfarb.
Overall, the Jumbos' depth has been excellent all year, with no one player dominating the scoring. An even distribution of points will be key tonight in preparing the entire team for Bates — a team they haven't defeated in five years.
"We're confident when given another opportunity we'll be able to close out a lead if we just run out plays the way we know we can," Long said.
On the defensive end, consistency will again be a deciding factor against an unknown Gordon squad. The Jumbos' highly aggressive defense has won games for them all year. If Tufts is able to successfully rattle Gordon's shooters and ball handlers, the team's pressure defense will be confident come Saturday.
"Yesterday in practice we talked about how what we got away from over the weekend was defensive pressure," Long said. "Going against Gordon, we want to refocus our defensive intensity because that was really our calling card all year and that will be the key against Bates … and that [all] starts tonight."
