Both Tiger squads punched tickets to the Ivy League tournament on Friday evening with blowout wins against the Brown Bears. Carla Berube’s women’s team, encountering a surprisingly spunky Bears quintet still smarting from a thorough pasting in Providence last month, was shocked in the first quarter, sharing the lead at 14 points apiece after 10 minutes. No Ivy team had such a start against the Tigers this season.
Toothless Tiger
Princeton women and men riding high going into stretch runs after downing Dartmouth
The weekend’s basketball produced no interesting storylines for either the women or men’s teams at Princeton.
Missing Henderson but not shooting touch, Princeton men bounce back at Columbia
What promised to be a chaotic weekend for the Tigers got off to a troubling start when the head coach had to leave the team after a failed COVID-19 test.
Princeton women shut down Columbia, claim supremacy in battle of Ivy unbeatens
The much anticipated collision between the last Ivy unbeatens, Princeton and Columbia, was far from the expected titanic struggle.
Cornell men avenge earlier buzzer-beater loss to Princeton, top Tigers, 88-83
Brian Earl’s Cornell Big Red got sweet revenge Friday for the buzzer-beater loss suffered at Jadwin Gym a month ago.
Princeton women roll over Cornell, 75-37
The second meeting between the Tigers and the Big Red was a bigger blowout than the first. On Jan. 8, the Berube Brigade rolled over the Big Red in Ithaca, 65-41. This evening’s rematch at Jadwin Gym was a defensive tour de force for the Tigers as they held Cornell to 9.25 points per quarter while scoring 18.75 themselves.
Princeton men need to tighten up defense after falling short versus Yale
Preseason Ivy favorite Yale returned to one of its comfortable road venues, Jadwin Gym, to upset the Tigers, 80-74. The Tigers have shown a propensity to dig themselves into early holes. This time the hole was too deep, the Eli sharpshooters too deadly. Yale’s 17-point lead at the half, boosted by the Tigers’ surrendering an inexcusable 1-on-2 layup after holding for the last shot, proved to be insurmountable.
In the second half, the Tigers played much closer to their preferred game, making nine of 12 from deep to get back into contention, at one point closing within two. Even when Azar Swain and Jalen Gabbidon were rested in the middle of the second half, the Tigers failed to take advantage. Yale actually added to its lead.
Jaelin Llewellyn dismissed injury concerns to fuel the Tigers’ comeback effort, canning six of 12 shots from deep and scoring 23 points. Ethan Wright and Drew Friberg went a combined 3-for-14 from beyond the arc, with most of those misses coming in the first half.
The second half shows that Princeton can certainly play with Yale but must defend better. This game demonstrates why Yale was favored to win the Ivy crown this season. Since the Tigers will spend much of February on the road, they need to find three wins to ensure their berth in Ivy Madness.
Princeton men survive, women thrive in wins over Dartmouth counterparts
Both Tiger teams fared well against their Dartmouth opponents Saturday.
Princeton men building early momentum toward Ivy title as dominance over Penn persists
Mitch Henderson’s dominance over the Penn Quakers continues. Since 2012, Princeton, after yesterday’s satisfying 74-64 triumph at Jadwin, is 15-4 against its most bitter rival.
Princeton women rout Brown, 72-39
The overmatched Brown Bears were spanked by Carla Berube’s Princeton Tigers on Saturday in Providence, 72-39.
The vaunted Tiger defense had single-digit yields in the first (nine) and third (eight) quarters, holding the Bears to under 10 per period for the game.
On offense, Ellie Mitchell was the first of four Tigers to register 12 points for the game. Mitchell went 6- for-6 in the first quarter, an unusual output for the rebounding and defensive specialist. The Tigers led 24-8 after one period and never trailed. Mitchell collected her usual 11 rebounds to record her fifth career double-double.
Abby Meyers, Julia Cunningham and Kaitlyn Chen also contributed 12 points each to fuel the runaway.
Berube used the lopsided contest as an opportunity to give 14 players the chance for some game action. Chet Nweke went 4-for-4 from the field in 13 minutes.
The Tigers could not be accused of looking ahead to Monday’s visit to The Palestra where their bitter rivals, the Penn Quakers, await. Penn-Princeton meetings are always fun and usually offer a surprise or two. Stream the game on ESPN+.